Suffering was less than my passion for tennis, says Nadal

Rafael Nadal had one of the greatest tennis careers the game has ever seen. He also spent nearly all of it in pain. Between his first French Open win in 2005 and retirement in 2024, the Spaniard won 22 Grand Slam singles titles - the second-highest total of any man. He was part of the 'Big Three' era, where he, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic carved up the sport's biggest prizes and thrilled fans. But a chronic foot injury meant Nadal had to find different ways just to get through matches, let alone win them. In a new Netflix series, the 39-year-old opens up about the risks he took with his health in order to achieve greatness. "I've had to make decisions about my health, where you are on the borderline between right or wrong," Nadal said. "But if I hadn't explored all that, I probably would have had 10 fewer Grand Slams. I'm not saying one or two, I'm saying 10 or 12. This is the reality." In 2005 the long-haired, muscular teenage sensation announced himself to the world by winning the French Open at his first attempt, beating world number one Roger Federer in the semi-finals on his 19th birthday. He finished that season ranked second in the world, having won 11 singles titles. However, it was also the year Nadal's injury struggle began in earnest. After breaking his left foot during his Madrid Open final victory, Nadal was diagnosed with a rare degenerative condition called Mueller-Weiss syndrome. …