‘I Couldn’t Put My Foot Down’ – Rafael Nadal Reveals How His Astounding Victory Against Roger Federer in 2008 Wimbledon Happened Amid Intense Pain

Rafael Nadal recently claimed his 22nd Grand Slam title. After having the tournament of the year 2021 fell prey to his persistent injury. Nadal finally claimed his 14th French Open title. He outclassed the defending champion and the World No.1, Novak Djokovic, in the quarterfinals. Thereafter, he locked horns with world no.3 Alexander Zverev, whose unfortunate injury ended the semifinals.

Following that, he took an easy win over the 23-year-old Norwegian tennis ace Casper Ruud. Nadal outclassed the 2022 Geneva Open champion in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the final.

Thus, claiming his well-deserved title and shushing the rumors of retirement. Though Nadal also accepted that his injury has a very high chance of obstructing his game again and recalled one major vent in which he played  through the pain.

Struggle of Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon

The Spanish tennis legend, after so many years, shared how he struggled with the same issue during the entire two weeks of the 2008 Wimbledon championships and how it added on to the pre-existing difficulties of the finals against the Swiss legend Roger Federer.

He said, “I never told this before, but it’s true that I had to play with numb feet since the beginning of the match. And not only in that match, but in several previous matches.”

“So the rain delays and everything made this issue a bit more difficult to deal with cause in the anesthesia had a duration and in that moment, without it, I couldn’t play the match,” Nadal added.

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Thereafter, the Spaniard also explained, “I needed the anesthesia to play cause I couldn’t put my foot down. I had a problem with the sole. Actually, in the days between matches I almost didn’t train cause I couldn’t. So there were also added worries about how much the anesthesia’s effect would have lasted.”

Even so, Nadal managed to claim victory in the tournament by defeating the 20 times Grand Slam champion Federer. He got the better of Federer in a four hour long match of 6-4, 6-4, 6 (5) -7 (7), 6 (8)-7 (10), 9-7.

Nadal’s injury

Nadal has been suffering from a rare degenerative condition known as Mueller-Weiss syndrome since almost the start of his career. The syndrome causes spontaneous osteonecrosis in the navicular bone, which is located in the mid-foot region.

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Hence, resulting in a lack of blood supply in the region and causing tremendous pain and deformity in the hindfoot along with the mid-foot region. Nadal has underwent surgery earlier, however, that doesn’t mean that the disease won’t resurface.