French politician who once accused Rafael Nadal of doping is back in the government

In 2016, former French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot caused an uproar in social media by accusing Rafael Nadal of being involved in a doping scandal. She also blamed the authorities for sweeping the matter under the carpet.

The baseless allegations far from amused Rafael Nadal, who slapped Bachelot with a lawsuit and received €12,000 for the damage inflicted to his reputation as a tennis player.

The 73-year-old Bachelot is now back as France's Minister of Culture in President Emmanuel Macron's government.

Roselyn Bachelot's accusations on Rafael Nadal

Roselyn Bachelot has been the French Sports Minister from 2007-2010

Between 2007 and 2010, Roselyn Bachelot was France's Sports Minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy .

During this period, Rafael Nadal won three Roland Garros either side of losing to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009.

In March 2016, Maria Sharapova tested positive for a banned substance. Bachelot took the opportunity to imply that there could be many other tennis players apart from Sharapova who took banned substances.

In a television programme, Bachelot accused Rafael Nadal of testing positive for a banned substance in 2012 and serving a 'silent ban' through a 6-month injury layoff that lasted till early 2013.

"They do not disclose positive tests. We simply found out curiously that a player has an injury that keeps him away from the courts for months. We know more or less that the famous injury of Rafael Nadal that kept him seven months without competition (between 2012 and 2013) was surely due to a positive doping test, Bachelot said."

Bachelot also accused the authorities of being involved in covering up positive doping tests of famous athletes.

The Minister's unfounded observations were widely criticised by the tennis fraternity, a sentiment that also found resonance in the wider sporting world. Spain came out in spirited defence of its favourite Mallorcan son.

Several top Spanish athletes and sporting institutions including La Liga club Real Madrid and the then manager of FC Barcelona Luis Enrique came out in support of Rafael Nadal.

Real Madrid's current manager and Bachelot's fellow Frenchman Zinedine Zidane was deeply hurt by his compatriot's comments and assured that Rafael Nadal is as loved in France as he is anywhere else in the world.

Rafael Nadal sued the French Minister for defamation

Rafael Nadal was in no mood to take Bachelot's comments lightly.

Considering Rafael Nadal's success with his physical style of play, some critics had raised eyebrows about something not being right with the Spaniard, without explicitly uttering the D-word. Nadal countered by saying that such hurtful allegations were an insult to his hard work.

When Bachelot made a pointed accusation of Rafael Nadal using performance-enhancing or prohibited substances, it swung the Spaniard into action.

In a press conference at the 2016 Indian Wells Masters, Rafael Nadal said that he intended to sue the French minister for making such unsubstantiated allegations.

"I gonna sue her," Rafael Nadal said at the time.

Nadal slapped Bachelot with a lawsuit that he won in November 2017 where the French minister was asked to pay the Spaniard €12,000 for inflicting damage to his reputation.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion later revealed that the money received from the lawsuit was donated to a French charity.