Rafael Nadal shares new worrying health update on top of injury concerns | Tennis | Sport

Tennis star Rafael Nadal has revealed his use of anti-inflammatories during his playing career left him with two perforations of his intestines. The Spaniard, who has a world record 14 French Open men’s singles titles, had arguments with his physio over the matter but said his career would have been “completely different” had he gone down another route. Nadal, 39, won the last of his Roland Garros titles in 2022. He retired two years later with a total of 22 grand slam titles to his name but dealt with an assortment of injuries over the course of his career.

Nadal was asked in a new documentary about previous comments he made about the risk he took travelling to the Indian Wells Open in 2012 and told Marca about the conversations he had before making his decision. “There was a time when I was living with constant pain. And there were many days when I had arguments with my physio about whether I should take anti-inflammatories or not,” the Mallorcan said. “He had them; I would ask him for them, and he would give them to me. He was the one in charge. And then one day I said, well, when you say there’s a line between what’s right and wrong, well, now I’m the one who decides when to take anti-inflammatories, when not to take them, how many I take or how many I don’t take.”

He continued: “And they hardly even noticed. Simply because, of course, I found it uncomfortable having to ask all day long when I knew the other person didn’t agree with it. But as far as I’m concerned, it was either that or I wouldn’t have played tennis at all.

“So when I say there’s a line between what’s right and wrong, it’s because, ultimately, I know it’s harmful to my body. In fact, as I said, I have two perforations in my intestines from taking so many anti-inflammatories. But if it hadn’t been for that, my career would have been completely different.”

Nadal claimed in his documentary that he would have “Twelve fewer grand slams” had he not played at Indian Wells that year – a tournament at which he reached the singles semi-finals and won the men’s doubles with Marc Lopez. The bulk of the grand slam wins in the latter part of his career came in Paris but he also won three of his four US Open titles after 2012.

Last year’s French Open was the first since Nadal’s retirement and saw his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz claim the title with a five-set victory over Jannik Sinner in the final. Alcaraz won’t be at Roland Garros to defend his crown, confirming in April that the wrist injury he sustained in Barcelona would keep him out of the rest of the clay court season.

On Thursday, he announced he would not be back in time for Wimbledon either. “My recovery is going well and I’m feeling much better, but unfortunately I’m still not ready to compete, which is why I have to withdraw from the grass-court swing at Queen’s and Wimbledon,” he confirmed in a social media post.

“They are two truly special tournaments for me and I will miss them a lot. We’ll keep working to come back as soon as possible.”