“In the basement of failures, there’s always one more floor.” That’s the kind of line only someone who has truly lived through setbacks can understand. And in many ways, that’s Rafael Nadal’s story. Across his career, he went through challenges that at times seemed big enough to end it all. And one of the toughest moments of his journey came in the very year he announced himself to the world.

It was 2005 when a 19-year-old Rafael Nadal won his first Roland Garros title. That triumph in Paris was the beginning of what would eventually become one of the greatest legacies in tennis history. The “King of Clay” era had officially begun. But just a few months later, in October, Nadal arrived in Madrid unaware that his life was about to change completely.

While playing the final in pursuit of his third Masters title of the season, Nadal suddenly felt a crack in his foot. Even then, he kept going. He pushed through the pain and eventually lifted the trophy in front of his home crowd.

But what followed, nearly changed everything.

Soon after, Nadal was diagnosed with Muller-Weiss syndrome, a rare chronic condition that affected the navicular bone in the foot. The condition was so uncommon that no athlete at the highest level had publicly dealt with it before him. At one point, the Spaniard even had to rely on crutches and a wheelchair for support.

Disheartened, Nadal returned to Mallorca to recover and reflect. And for the first time, he genuinely felt that the journey he had only just begun might already be coming to an end.

And as he opened up about one of the darkest phases of his life in his Netflix docuseries Rafa, the Spaniard revealed just how grim the situation had become. Doctors had told him that he might never be able to compete at the professional level again. “My world, at that moment, was falling apart,” Nadal admitted.

In fact, Rafa’s father, Sebastian Nadal, later revealed just how difficult that period was for his son to process. The thought of losing the one thing he loved most hit him hard. “I remember him sitting there, leaning against the wall, crying,” Sebastian Nadal recalled.

Following this, the Spaniard was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open the very next year in 2006. Reflecting on that period, Nadal’s mother, Ana Maria, shared the nooks and crannies of the emotional toll those months took on her son. “This time, honestly, I truly saw him completely devastated,” she admitted.

In fact, Nadal even began considering a life away from tennis, unsure if a comeback was even possible. “I was crying all the time,” he later reflected. But his father kept him grounded, urging him not to lose hope, often telling him there was always “one more rabbit in the hat.”

That became a turning point for the family. Around this time, Muller-Weiss specialist Dr. Ernesto Maceira suggested a tailored insole to better support Nadal’s foot. It wasn’t a complete fix, but it changed everything in small, meaningful ways. The pain didn’t disappear entirely, but as Nadal put it, “it was now a pain I could handle.” And in that moment, a simple thought crossed his mind: “We’re saved.”

What followed was the beginning of a new chapter in a career that would go on to etch his name into tennis history.

The new dawn that changed Rafa’s life forever

In 2006, Rafa returned to Paris for the second time to defend his Roland Garros title. Dressed in a blue sleeveless Nike T-shirt paired with his signature white capri-style “pirate” pants, Nadal walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier to a roaring reception from the French crowd. Up against World No. 1 Roger Federer, he pushed through the pain once again and successfully defended his crown in Paris.

After the win, Nadal laid flat on the clay and broke down in tears. Moments later, he stood up, climbed the stands’ fence, and made his way to his father, embracing him tightly. Visibly emotional, his father patted Rafa’s shoulder with pride. “And maybe that’s the biggest hug I’ve ever given him,” his father later recalled.

That second Roland Garros title meant even more than the first. This time, he proved the world wrong, after being told by many that his career might not last.

Looking back in Episode 1, ‘No Tomorrow’, Rafa reflected, “To me, tennis became a race against time. Always having the doubt in my mind, saying, ‘Let’s see how long I can play with this foot.’”

But he kept going anyway, and went on to win 22 Grand Slam titles. And with his 14 Roland Garros victories, he even left an immortalized footprint at the Court Philippe-Chatrier.

As Sebastian Nadal put it, “Very few people have endured all that. You need to have a very strong mindset. But above all, a dream.”