Rafael Nadal has been suffering from a chronic illness for a long time and most recently played under local anesthesia. Now he hits after controversial treatment in Wimbledon. Doping expert Fritz Sörgel speaks of “quackery” – and a failed role model.
Rafael Nadal apparently got his foot problems under control just in time for the start of what is probably the most renowned tennis tournament in the world. Relieved, he stepped in front of the cameras the weekend before Wimbledon. “I can walk normally almost every day, that’s the main thing for me,” said the 36-year-old: “When I wake up, I no longer have the pain I had in the past year and a half.” The treatment did not improve the injury itself, but it did alleviate the suffering for the moment.
Because of the pain, the Spaniard’s start in London had been uncertain for a long time. Now the Spanish Grand Slam record winner can chase the next record in the traditional Wimbledon white on grass. In the first round, Nadal meets Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo on Tuesday.
The foot has been causing problems for Nadal for a long time
For a number of years, Nadal has suffered from Müller-Weiss syndrome, a rare condition in which bone tissue in the scaphoid of the foot dies. His left foot has always caused him problems in the past. Because of the illness, Nadal had to skip almost the entire second part of the season last year.
His comeback at the beginning of the year was all the more impressive when he won his 21st Grand Slam title in Australia. The audience was even more amazed in Paris when Nadal won number 22. At the press conference afterwards, he admitted what that triumph had taken: “I don’t want to talk about how many injections I got, but yeah, before every game it took a few to numb the nerve.”
If you don’t feel pain, you don’t know when it’s too much
A tennis player who sweeps the court for hours without feeling his foot. His personal doctor, Angel Ruiz Cotorro, had injected him with an anesthetic dozens of times. “It was the only way to have a chance here,” said Nadal. “I did it, I’m happy and I can’t thank my doctor enough for what he’s done for me throughout my tennis career.”
As an outsider, one is torn in the face of such sentences. Top-class sport often demands inhuman things from its players, time and again it pushes them beyond the limits of what is reasonable. You can admire achievements like Nadal’s records – but can you approve of them in good conscience? In the end, the pain is a signal from the body: up to here and no further, otherwise you are jeopardizing your health.
Doping expert Sörgel: “It has a devastating effect”
If you don’t feel pain, you don’t know when it’s too much, even worse injuries and possibly permanent damage are imminent. And the painkillers themselves also have side effects. Can a top athlete like Nadal, one with fans all over the world and a role model for millions, just play down their consumption like that? Take it for granted in sport?
For doping expert and pharmacologist Fritz Sörgel, the answer is clearly no. Especially with a view to the offspring who look up to their tennis idol. “Of course, that has a devastating effect! Because these things are introduced to young people very early on. Nadal’s statements may not reach the 12-, 13-year-olds. But they are very important for 14- to 15-year-olds (athletes). Arrived safely,” says Sörgel in an interview with NDR.
The World Association is silent on role model questions
It’s a problem when the youngsters are told: Playing with pain or taking painkillers is normal – you have to do it, you have to endure it if you want to make it to the top.
Rafael Nadal himself runs a tennis academy for talents in Mallorca. The Spaniard did not answer written questions about his function as a role model, the painkillers consumed or the education of young players about painkillers within a period of time. The World Tennis Federation (ITF) does not respond to the questions either. Does it correspond to the self-image of sport when a player plays injured and is dependent on painkillers in order to be able to take part in the competition at all? No Answer.
Sörgel: Painkillers cannot be banned
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), responsible for corruption and doping, in turn refers to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). But WADA also does not want to comment on Nadal’s role model function on request: It is a medical matter and not an anti-doping matter. When asked about the painkillers, WADA refers to the player’s personal rights. The agency is only clear on one question: painkillers are not doping – even if the substances in Paris enabled Nadal to take part in the competition in the first place.
Pharmacologist Sörgel sees it differently. “A local anesthetic with vitamins and everything else that is injected into it is of course doping by its nature, that’s clear.” Because it enables the athlete to do something they otherwise could not do. “But that’s pretty hard to get that into the WADA code because they can’t forbid a person to numb their pain with a painkiller.”
There was speculation in Paris about Nadal’s career end
On the sidelines of the French Open final, which Nadal finally won clearly, there was even speculation about the near end of his career because of the complaints. Instead, according to media reports, he underwent radio frequency therapy in Barcelona: the affected nerves in the foot were to be numbed and the pain stimulus no longer transmitted to the brain, it said. After that, a few days of rest in Mallorca were apparently enough before he announced the start of Wimbledon.
For the doping expert Sörgel all window dressing. “If this technology were a scientifically established technology, then it wouldn’t be a problem. But in sport these are just things that are done. And then you expose yourself to radiation. I don’t know exactly what kind of radiation it is – I don’t know if that will ever be announced. But in general I have to say that this kind of quackery is a big problem in sport.”
Rafael Nadal seems painless in the face of such criticism. The current fourth in the world rankings now has the chance to win the third Grand Slam of the year in Wimbledon.
This topic in the program:
Sports current | 06/27/2022 | 12:17 p.m
