Foot pain leaves Nadal's Wimbledon involvement in doubt

French Open champion Rafa Nadal will play at Wimbledon later this month if his body allows him to, the Spaniard said on Sunday after winning Roland Garros for a record-extending 14th time.

"I am going to be in Wimbledon if my body is ready to be in Wimbledon. Wimbledon is not a tournament that I want to miss," said Nadal, who has been suffering from a chronic foot injury.

The 36-year-old, who has won the season's first two majors, now owns a men's record 22 Grand Slam singles titles－two more than nearest rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

Nadal explained that he played Sunday's final with a numbed foot thanks to a series of injections throughout the tournament, but that he would not go through a similar procedure again for the grass-court Grand Slam.

"Wimbledon is a priority, always has been a priority. If I'm able to play with anti-inflammatories, yes," Nadal said. "To play with anaesthetic injections, I do not want to put myself in that position again. It can happen once but, no, it's not the philosophy of life I want to follow.

"Let's see. I am always a positive guy and always expect the things are going the right way. Let's be confident, let's be positive and let's see what's going on."

At the final in January's Australian Open, Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, came from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev and bag a second title there.

A couple of months earlier he was even considering retiring after a foot problem that has troubled him throughout his career resurfaced, forcing him to miss much of the 2021 season including Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open.

He arrived in Paris with his own doctor to get through the tournament despite the injury.

Giving details on what comes next for him, he said: "It's going to be a radio-frequency injection on the nerve and trying to burn a little bit the nerve and create the impact that I have now on the nerve for a long period of time.

"That's what we are going to try. If that works, I'm going to keep going. If that does not work, then it's going to be another story. And then I am going to ask myself if I am ready to do a major thing without being sure that things are going the proper way, for example.

"A major surgery that doesn't guarantee me to be able to be competitive again and take a long time to be back (is a risk). So let's do it step by step, as I did all my tennis career."

'Find a solution'

Nadal revealed he and his medical team are facing a potentially make-or-break week.

"It's obvious that with circumstances that I am playing, I can't and I don't want to keep going. I'm going to keep working to try to find a solution and an improvement for what's happening in the foot," said Nadal.

Nadal said that taking anaesthetic injections in the nerves in his foot was the only way he could have played through the French Open.

Now his medical team will attempt to burn the nerves using "radio-frequency injections".

With Wimbledon just three weeks away, Nadal is facing a race against time.

He was champion at the All England Club in 2008 and 2010.Should he win the title again, he would be three-quarters of the way to a first men's calendar Grand Slam since 1969.

Earlier Sunday, Coco Gauff suffered a second heartbreaking French Open final defeat when she and American partner Jessica Pegula were beaten by Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the women's doubles final.

The French pair won 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win their second Roland Garros title.

On Saturday, 18-year-old Gauff lost the singles final in straight sets to Iga Swiatek of Poland.

"Hopefully, we can win one in the future," Gauff told the crowd and praised the atmosphere. "The band was pretty cool, I thought I was at an American football game."

AFP