Rafael Nadal, who is coming off a 22nd Grand Slam win, on Saturday admitted that for the first time in 18 months he has been able to walk and practice, almost every day, without pain in his left foot. The Spaniard, seeded second at Wimbledon 2022, is struggling with the Mueller-Weiss syndrome, which leaves him weaker in one foot. 

The Wimbledon begins on June 27 and the final will be played on July 10. 

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Nadal won his record 14th French Open title earlier this month. The 36-year-old defeated the likes of World No 1 Novak Djokovic and a young Casper Rudd in his campaign. However, the win came under quite some stress. The Spanish legend kept on complaining about the problems in his left foot. He had to take injections regularly. 

 “The foot was asleep, and that’s why I was able to play,” Nadal opened up after the tournament. 

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However, talking about his foot on Saturday, Rafa was much more positive. He revealed that he underwent  “pulsed radiofrequency stimulation”, which is a treatment aimed at reducing nerve pain.

“I can walk normal most of the days, almost every single day. That’s for me the main issue. When I wake up, I don’t have this pain that I was having for the last year and a half, so quite happy about that. And second thing, practising. Since the last two weeks, I didn’t have one day of these terrible days that I can’t move at all. The feeling and overall feelings are positive,” the 36-year-old said. 

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Rafael Nadal has won the Wimbledon twice, his last triumph coming 12 years ago. Since, Roger Federer and recently Novak Djokovic have dominated the grass court. 

“In 2003 (his debut year), I never thought that I’d have a chance to win Wimbledon. Today it’s a different story. I had some success here,” Nadal said.