"I couldn’t bear even to open up about it with my girlfriend" - When Rafael Nadal disclosed his foot problems early in his career

Rafael Nadal has struggled with a recurring foot injury since the early days of his career, which has hampered his momentum and progress during a season multiple times.

Despite facing several fitness issues, most notably due to his foot injury, the Spaniard has established himself as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Rafael Nadal suffers from a chronic condition called Mueller-Weiss syndrome, which has flared up regularly over the years, forcing him to miss many tournaments.

Nadal wrote about his early injury troubles with his foot in 2006, stating that he felt his first twinge during the 2005 Madrid Open final against Ivan Ljubicic. The 36-year-old thought that the pain would pass but his foot was swollen the morning after the match.

"It was during the game against Ljubicic in Madrid on October 17 that I felt the first twinge. I didn’t take it all that seriously at the time, and accustomed as I was to competing in pain, I kept playing. That night it began to hurt a lot more, but I still wasn’t alarmed. I thought it was the inevitable consequence of having played a hard five-set match and that the next day it would pass," he wrote.

"But I woke up next morning and discovered the foot was more swollen than it had been the night before. I got out of bed, and placing the full weight of my body on the foot was impossible," he added.

Nadal stated that he felt his life was cut in half and he became distant and irritable. He said that he initially couldn't discuss his issues with his then-girlfriend (now his wife) Maria Francisca Perello, who became "baffled and alarmed" by the change in his personality.

"I felt as if my life had been cut in half. When my family recall that period, they say I was completely transformed, unrecognizable. At home I’m normally in high spirits, laughing and joking a lot, especially with my sister. Now I became irritable, distant, dark," he expressed.

"I didn’t talk about the injury even to my closest friends; at first I couldn’t bear even to open up about it with my girlfriend, María Francisca, who was growing baffled and alarmed by the change she saw in me. We’d just started going out a few months earlier, and here I was, a misery day and night, hardly an attractive proposition for a girl of seventeen eager to enjoy life," he added.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner also said that he could not even rest his foot on the ground and lost all appetite for life during the early onset of his foot condition.

"Typically so hyperactive, I couldn’t even rest my foot on the ground, let alone think of playing tennis, and I’d lie for hours on end on the sofa staring into space, or sit in the bathroom, or on the stairs, weeping. I didn’t laugh, I didn’t smile, I didn’t want to talk. I lost all appetite for life," Nadal wrote.

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What is Mueller-Weiss Syndrome, the foot injury Rafael Nadal suffers from?

Rafael Nadal in action in an exhibition match in Santiago

Mueller-Weiss syndrome is a degenerative disease where the navicular bone in the mid-foot region undergoes spontaneous osteonecrosis in adults. As a result, blood is cut off from the navicular bone, subsequently causing pain and deformity in the mid-foot and hindfoot regions.

Rafael Nadal suffers from chronic pain in his foot due to the condition and was forced to end his season early (after the French Open) in 2021 because of it.