Nadal reveals foot injury and health risks in documentary

Rafael Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam tennis champion, has revealed the extraordinary and painful physical toll behind his legendary career, describing years of competing through serious injury. The Spaniard, who retired in 2024, made the disclosures in a new documentary series, detailing a rare degenerative foot condition that plagued him for nearly two decades and forced him to make difficult health decisions to remain at the sport's pinnacle.

Nadal stated that he spent his career on the borderline between right and wrong regarding his health, but that pushing those limits was essential to his success. He estimated that without taking such risks, he would likely have won 10 to 12 fewer major titles. His physical struggles began in 2005, the same year he burst onto the scene by winning the French Open on his debut at age 19. That year, he was diagnosed with Mueller-Weiss syndrome, a rare condition causing the collapse of a bone in his foot.

He described tennis as a constant race against time, never knowing how long his career would last. To continue playing, he used a specialist insole, which he said threw the rest of his body out of alignment and led to other severe issues. He...