Rafael Nadal’s former coach and uncle, Toni Nadal speaks about how Rafael Nadal fought with injuries all over his career and overcame them to become one of the best sports personalities in the world.
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Rafael Nadal has been struggling with injuries in the past decade and a half, however, the Spaniard got the better of every adversity and went onto win 19 Grand Slam titles so far in his career. Toni Nadal, who coached Nadal for 12 years in the ATP Tour, revealed that the Spaniard had a rare disease in his foot – which cause walking problems.
Toni said: “In 2005 they (doctors) told us that Rafael’s career was over because he has a congenital problem in his foot. And generally, those who have this rare disease can barely walk. Two years after, when they checked on him again they said, “I don’t understand how this guy manages to play.”
Toni Nadal further revealed that the 33-year-old often had to play with painkillers and also failed to complete training sessions due to his physical problems. The Spaniard coach explained that these injuries brought more injuries to him and caused more problems in his back and knees.
“It’s true that Rafael Nadal often had to play with painkillers, and often we couldn’t complete a training session due to all these problems,” Toni Nadal said.
He continued, “And these problems caused other problems because he had to wear some insoles, which started to cause him pain in his back and in his knees.”
Toni Nadal also explicated that Nadal overcame his physical issues as the US Open 2019 champion has worked in a very high demanding schedule since he was a kid as Toni has always been very demanding with him.
He concluded, “But I think Rafael could do it, overcome all these adversities because he worked since he was a kid with high demand. I’ve always been demanding with him. I’ve been very demanding with him most of all because I had a great esteem of him.”
