Rafael Nadal ‘couldn’t walk’ and was spotted on crutches despite winning French Open

Casper Ruud has revealed that he saw Rafael Nadal on crutches a day after losing to the ‘King of Clay’ in the 2022 French Open final. The world No. 8 thought he had a shot at beating Nadal because the Spaniard “couldn’t walk”. But Nadal demolished him in the championship match, losing just six games. Nadal is gearing up to return to the French Open this year, his most dominant tournament. The former world No. 1 has an incredible record at Roland Garros, winning the event 14 times and losing just three matches. But he hasn’t been able to play since lifting his 22nd Major trophy at the tournament in 2022.

The 37-year-old has spent most of the last year on the sidelines and is preparing to return on the clay after pulling out of Indian Wells. With fans waiting to see whether he can complete a miracle on the Parisian play by lifting the title despite his injury woes, Ruud has offered some hope based on Nadal’s last experience of playing through physical issues.

The 25-year-old contested his first Grand Slam final against Nadal at the French Open two years ago and got a brutal reality check when the Spaniard won 6-3 6-3 6-0. And Ruud has now explained just how unstoppable Nadal is at the tournament, as he managed to win it while he “couldn’t walk”. Reflecting on the final in a new video for UTS, Ruud said: “Well I played him when he couldn’t even walk on his foot. He had local anaesthesia. That was crazy.” And things went from bad to worse for Nadal after he lifted the trophy, as he was finally able to show the extent of his injury.

“I actually met him the day after and he was on crutches. He couldn’t walk,” Ruud explained. The Norwegian tennis star was hopeful that he might be able to pull off the upset and hand Nadal just his fourth defeat at the French Open given the physical disadvantage that he appeared to have. But the man dubbed the King of Clay quickly shut down any suggestions that his injury would stop him from lifting the title, breezing through the final in a little over two hours. Ruud continued: “Even though I lost badly I was actually thinking the night before like, well you never know, maybe he’s so hurt that he can’t even walk.

“So I mean if there’s one year that someone maybe can surprise him it might be this one because everyone knew he was injured. But I mean he beat everyone along the way.” It wasn’t until after the tournament that Nadal revealed he had been using numbing injections on the nerve in his foot that was bothering him. He still managed to defeat long-time rival Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final. And he advanced through the semis when Alexander Zverev fell and retired towards the end of the second set of their match. That semi-final remains a ‘what if?’ in Ruud’s mind.

Nadal was leading 7-6(8) 6-6 when Zverev tore several ligaments in his ankle and was taken off court in a wheelchair. The 25-year-old added: “He was, I’m not going to say fortunate but he had a really tough match going with Zverev in the semi-final. They played three hours and didn’t finish the second set. If that was a bit longer, who knows? I don’t know.”