'I Don't Want to Keep Going': Rafael Nadal's Shock Revelation Puts His Tennis Future in Doubt

© AFP 2023 / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULATSpain's Rafael Nadal poses with The Musketeers' Cup as he celebrates after victory over Norway's Casper Ruud during their men's singles final match on day fifteen of the Roland-Garros Open tennis tournament at the Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris on June 5, 2022
Spain's Rafael Nadal poses with The Musketeers' Cup as he celebrates after victory over Norway's Casper Ruud during their men's singles final match on day fifteen of the Roland-Garros Open tennis tournament at the Court Philippe-Chatrier in Paris on June 5, 2022 - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.06.2022
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On Sunday, Nadal extended his Grand Slam record to 22 as he claimed his 14th French Open crown after beating Norway's Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in Paris. As his legion of supporters was still celebrating his record triumph at Roland Garros, the Spaniard dropped a bombshell, revealing that he was unsure about his future in tennis.
Rafael Nadal may have secured his second consecutive Major title in 2022 but the Spaniard isn't too upbeat about his future in the sport due to a chronic foot injury which he says became accentuated during the French Open.
The 36-year-old tennis superstar, who has been troubled with a foot problem since he was a teenager, made a shocking revelation about the state of his injury.
The Majorcan disclosed that he took pain-killing injections with alarming regularity throughout the fortnight in the French Open and even informed reporters that his foot was "asleep" when he lifted his 14th title there during the weekend.
"We played with no feeling in the foot, with a pain-killing injection on the nerve. The foot was asleep, and that's why I was able to play," he said in a press conference in Paris.
When curious journalists sought to know the number of injections he took during his 15-day sojourn in France, Nadal replied: "It's better you don't know".
Despite his extraordinary success in 2022, the left-hander's worries regarding his foot problems have grown manifold, and he's no longer sure about when he will have to call it quits.
For years, Nadal has avoided surgery on his left foot but he now realises that it could be the only way to minimise the pain before making a "decision about what's the next step in my future".
"It's obvious that, with the circumstances that I am playing, I can't, and I don't want to keep going," Nadal added.
But Nadal promised his fans that he would continue to fight the disease for as long as possible.
"I don't know what can happen in the future, but I'm going to keep fighting to try to keep going," he concluded.
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