Rafael Nadal, tennis legend: “I took far more anti-inflammatories than I would have liked”

Dressed in a black blazer over a white T-shirt, Rafael Nadal waits for the interviewer in a room inside a luxury hotel in Madrid. In a setting with a distinctly cinematic feel, the 22-time Grand Slam champion sits down with several media outlets, including AS, as part of the promotion for Rafa, the documentary premiering on Netflix on May 29. The series revisits the defining moments of his career while contrasting them with the challenges of his final year as a professional player. Hours before the premiere, the Spaniard reflected on episodes and circumstances featured in a biography that captures not only triumph, but also the physical and emotional hardship that accompanied his journey.

If I had to choose a genre for the documentary, I’d say drama. How do you see it?

For me, it’s not a drama, but that’s why it’s good for people to watch it, because everyone will have their own point of view. For me, it’s a realistic combination of what my career was: incredible moments, hugely emotional moments, and also the reflection of what my daily life was, which was often a race against my body.

That struggle against pain really stands out in the series, and how you endured it. Mentally, what was it like living with that constantly?

The happiness I got from doing what I loved and the excitement of continuing to do it outweighed everything else. I also think I was able to handle it because I received the right education to face these kinds of things and had good examples around me. That helped me enormously to live with it all and accept the challenges that came my way.

The insole that changed everything

There’s the famous story about the insole. For people to understand, what exactly did it do to your game and your daily life?

Basically, it was an insole that shifted my foot inward by seven millimeters. That changed the point of support and made the impact happen more on the inside. Nothing was being cured, because the problem I had in my foot had no cure. The only thing they tried to do was redirect the point of support somewhere else. The decision that was made was drastic because it looked like I wouldn’t be able to continue my tennis career. That solution allowed me to keep playing tennis, and that’s the reality. I think that’s where the rest of the problems in my body started to appear. They were major issues, but manageable with daily work and a good team around me. The foot solution gave me the chance to continue my career, and after that, everything else followed. Of course, when you make such a drastic change to your support point, it’s logical that the body becomes unbalanced.

And what are you going to do now with your foot? Will you have surgery?

I still can’t have surgery. At the moment, no. I can keep living like this without pushing it too hard, with little pain, or by doing treatments every few months, and I think that’s manageable. The surgery would involve putting in a fixation and leaving that part of the foot immobile.

Would that stop you from playing sports?

Some things, yes. I wouldn’t be able to play tennis or soccer. I could do many other things, but depending on what they are, I’d have limitations. Today, even with pain on many days, I can still do them.

Something striking in the series is that, early on at Roland Garros, you wanted to take pressure off yourself. You kept saying: “Don’t tell me I’m going to win.”

Because I was young and that’s how I felt. They’d tell me, “You’re the favorite,” and I’d answer that the favorite would be the one lifting the trophy the following Sunday. I understood journalists had to write and talk about that, but I didn’t feel that way. I saw myself as just another contender. Later on, when you already have six or seven titles, obviously the perception changes. But at the beginning, I never felt more favorite than anyone else.

There’s another interesting aspect: Toni Nadal is often associated with the idea of suffering. What was it like for you living through that with him being family?

Toni was a very demanding person. I’ve always thought he was that way with me because he saw I was capable of tolerating that level of demand. If he hadn’t thought I was prepared to withstand that pressure, he wouldn’t have done it. Everything he did was for my benefit. But obviously, when you push someone to the limit, sometimes the line gets crossed. And sometimes it was crossed. Even so, I never felt he was doing it for any reason other than my own good. That’s why I always respected him and will always be grateful for everything he did for me.

Do you regret risking your health because of the medication issue?

No, because the alternative was giving up what I loved doing at that time. I took far more anti-inflammatories than I would have liked, but if I hadn’t, I would have stopped playing tennis many years earlier. In the end, I started managing it myself. Sometimes I had disagreements with Rafa Maymó, my physiotherapist, over that issue, and there came a point where I said: “I’m going to decide myself.” I had my anti-inflammatories and took them when I thought I needed to. Because otherwise, sometimes I’d end up not taking them because he disagreed, and that would cause problems for me the next day. It was a difficult balance to manage, but I had gastroscopies every few months, blood tests and checkups to make sure everything was more or less under control. Everything was monitored.

And finally. People always asked you so much about Toni, but less about Carlos Moyá. What did Charly mean to you in your life and career?

First of all, he was a huge help when I was young and arrived on tour. And later, as a coach, he gave my career a very important boost. I’d even say he was decisive in relaunching it to some extent. That’s how I see it.

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