5 times Rafael Nadal landed himself in controversy ft. 2024 Saudi Arabia deal

Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He has won 22 Grand Slam titles and is only second to Novak Djokovic in that respect. However, he is by far the greatest player ever on clay, having won more than 60 titles on the surface, including an unfathomable 14 French Open trophies.

However, the 37-year-old Spaniard has also generated controversy and has often attracted some negative publicity. In this article, we are going to take a look at five such controversies in his career.

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Five controversies in Rafael Nadal's career so far:

#5 Becoming the ambassador of the Saudi Arabia Tennis Federation

Rafael Nadal was appointed as the ambassador of the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation in January 2024 and the Spaniard also announced that he will set up a tennis academy in the country.

Saudi Arabia's reputation in terms of human rights issues is not very clean, to put it mildly. The increased investment in various sports has been termed as "sportswashing", of course, in a derogatory way.

Hence, Nadal was severely criticized for acceding to their request, which would be viable to him financially. However, he denied all such allegations in February 2024, saying (via La Sexta):

"They pay me, yes, do I need the money? Not at all, it will not change my life. I have not signed a super contract, like other fellow athletes who are there and I totally respect them."

However, several tennis fans worldwide continue to question the Spaniard’s decision to get himself involved with Saudi Arabian tennis.

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#4 Confession of taking anaesthetics during French Open 2022

Rafael Nadal won the French Open in 2022 by beating Casper Ruud in the final. However, his mind-boggling 14th title at Roland Garros took a back seat for a while after he revealed that he had resorted to local anaesthesia throughout the tournament to take care of his foot injury (Muller-Weiss syndrome).

He told French television that following his second-round match at the clay court tournament, he could hardly walk. He needed the doctor's assistance to numb his foot just so he could play.

"The most difficult moment here at Roland-Garros was after, I must say, the second round against (Corentin) Moutet. Back at the hotel I could barely walk any more, to be truthful," Nadal said (via Tennis Majors).

"I’m lucky that my doctor could help me – no player gave so much work to this doctor in the past, obviously! I played with the foot numbed, blocking the nerves, just to be able to play," he added.

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#3 Asking for the removal of a particular tennis umpire from his matches

At the 2015 French Open, Rafael Nadal went to the extent of asking for the removal of Carlos Bernardes from his matches. The Spaniard argued with Bernardes earlier in February in Rio de Janeiro regarding something as trivial as wearing his shorts properly.

Bernardes asked Nadal to go to the locker room to adjust his shorts, but the Spaniard refused to do that as it would have attracted a warning for a time violation.

Nadal later said in Paris in May 2015 that he respected Bernardes, stating (via ESPN):

"Better for both of us if we are not (on a) court at the same time for a while."

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#2 Facing doping allegations by a French minister

Former French minister for health and sports, Roselyn Bachelot, accused Nadal of doping, stating that the latter’s seven-month absence from tennis in 2012 was owing to his failed dope test.

It was a very serious allegation that prompted the Spaniard to file a defamation suit. He won the case and received a sum of 10000 Euros, which he decided to donate to a charity.

The verdict came out in November 2017, after which Nadal said in a statement, (via The Guardian):

"I would like to reiterate my respect for the legal procedure and French tribunals. We have been made aware of the decision by which Mrs Bachelot has been found guilty of defamation."

The 22-time Grand Slam champion thus came out unscathed from that controversy, but it dented his reputation and managed to raise a few eyebrows.

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#1 Rafael Nadal made controversial remarks on the gender pay gap in tennis

Nadal came up with probably his most controversial remark on tennis in June 2018, when he addressed the perennial issue of the gender pay gap in tennis. Nadal likened tennis to the modelling and fashion industry in that regard, pointing out that female models were paid more than male models.

What he implied was that men's tennis matches were longer and more rigorous and hence, they attracted more attention than the ones involving women. Nadal told an Italian magazine:

"Female models earn more than male models, and nobody says anything. Why? Because they have a larger following. In tennis, too, who gathers a larger audience earns more."

The Spaniard's comments had caused much uproar for a brief while before the controversy died down ultimately.