Rafael Nadal planning major foot operation – ‘He won’t be able to play at a high level’ | Tennis | Sport

Rafael Nadal will eventually have surgery on his foot that will prevent him from playing tennis again, according to his uncle. Toni Nadal has spoken candidly about the degenerative problem which has hampered his nephew throughout his career. Former world No 1 Nadal has a rare foot condition known as Muller-Weiss Syndrome.

Nadal missed the second half of 2021 due to chronic pain with the issue.

He has since admitted he felt he may have to retire from tennis due to the problem.

However, Nadal returned to major tournament action in style last month, winning the Australian Open for a second time to move ahead of his rivals on 21 career Grand Slam singles titles.

Nadal did not have surgery on his injury last year and his uncle has now revealed why.

Toni Nadal says the 35-year-old will have to undergo an operation at some point in the future.

But he claims that would prevent Nadal from competing competitively again.

Toni Nadal told reporters in Majorca: “The specialist who saw him in 2005 told us that it would be very difficult for him to do sport at the highest level, but Rafael has been defying that in the best possible way, because he has been able to face up to a difficult situation.

“He looked like he was going to have a short career, but everything has turned out much better than we expected.