Is the end nigh for Rafael Nadal?

Yes, Rafael Nadal has been injured before majors in the past. But he’s never been this injured.

Rafael Nadal has been playing through pain on the clay court circuit Picture: Getty Images

Rafael Nadal has little hands. Little feet. Perhaps he’ll be driven to Roland Gaross in a little courtesy car that goes beep, beep, beep. The left foot is the killer problem and will end up finishing his career. I suspect the time is nigh. This is the most injured he’s been before a French Open.

Deep in his warrior heart, Nadal knows he may never going skidding across Court Philippe-Chatrier again. The little hands are real. They’re why he uses an unusually small grip. Most male professionals have 4-1/4, 4-3/8 or 4-1/2 inch grip sizes, plus one of those comfy, sweat-absorbing wraps on top. Nadal’s grip is 4-1/8 inch. He doesn’t really have miniature feet but he does wear shoes one size too small. He’s spent his entire career managing the pain of Mueller-Weiss syndrome – a degenerative disease that causes bone deformity in the central part of the foot.

You’ll often see Nadal hobbling around tournament sites mumbling just accept, just accept, just accept. His smaller shoes, tied as tightly as soccer boots, decreases the discomfort but makes him more susceptible to blisters. Toes must be screaming for help. The thing that sends the 35-year-old into retirement will undoubtedly be the same thing Daniel Day Lewis won an Oscar for. My Left Foot. Perhaps in a year or two, perhaps any day now.

This is the 126th edition of the French Open. Seems Nadal has won 125 of them. His draw is a shocker. If everything goes to plan, he’ll slog it out against Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. If he survives that half-marathon, he’ll have to do it all over again against Spanish dynamo Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals. “It‘s a difficult draw, but mentally I’m not worried,” Nadal says. “Arriving as I am, I would have preferred another draw. But I’m humble enough to think that now I can only focus on my first opponent, the Australian Jordan Thompson".

The Australian Jordan Thompson? As opposed to all the other Jordan Thompson’s on tour? Nadal and the Australian Jordan Thompson clash on Monday night/Tuesday morning (AEST) following a European clay-court season in which Nadal, for the first time in his career, hasn’t lifted a trophy. The foot problem is never-ending and worsening. His ribs have been troubling him, too. “I don‘t think those problems will go away in two weeks, but that’s not the goal,” he says. “The important thing is to know if the injuries will be strong and if they will let me have a chance to win here. I have to accept the situation, make the necessary effort and have options to compete without speculating. Face things as they come. I don‘t know how many Roland Garros’ I have left to play. The opportunities are finite and you have to take advantage of them.”

I suspect Nadal has one or maybe two Roland Garros’ left to play. It’s something of a miracle he’s still going. “If you look at the results this season you can see that I'm not the favourite,” he says. “But that has never worried me. When everyone said I was the favourite I didn‘t see myself as a favourite, I saw myself as one of the candidates. I‘ve always seen it that way. I was a candidate because I had already won but today I don‘t think I’m the favourite. We’ll see what can happen.”

One person happy to see Nadal on Court Phillipe-Chartrier on the weekend was world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. A video and photo of the two of them went viral. Nadal shook her hand and her reaction was priceless. One caption suggested that in this life, all you need to do is find someone who looks at you the way Swiatek looked at Nadal. With respect to Nadal’s missus, of course.

What an occasion for the Australian Jordan Thompson, as opposed to all the other Jordan Thompsons’ on tour. He gets the honour of a hit with Nadal at Roland Garros, up there with jagging a quick 18 holes with Jack Nicklaus at Augusta National. “Unfortunately I did not arrive with the right preparation and that has interrupted the line at the beginning of the season,” Nadal says. “It has disturbed it. In sports, things can change quickly and I have to be ready for that change. There are players in better shape than me, there is no doubt about that. But in Australia, I put myself in a position to have a choice, and here it‘s no different. I believe in my options, in my daily work.”

I think Nadal is cooked as a major champion. But I’ve thought that before. I’ve thought it before, during and throughout the Australian Open, right up until he won match point against Daniil Medvedev. His left foot is a dud but for as long as he’s packing dynamite in his left hand, he’s a chance. He revels in this new-found underdog role and one quote from world No. 3 Alexander Zverev has brought to mind how fiercely Nadal fights at the majors. At times on Rod Laver Arena in January you’ve been tempted to give him a fireman’s carry back to the locker room and put him out of his misery … but he’s just kept finding a way to win.

Zverev says Nadal on Court Phillipe-Chatrier has looked different to the Nadal who’s limped to sobering clay court defeats at Rome and Madrid: “I just watched Rafa practise and it‘s funny because all of a sudden his forehand is just 20 miles an hour faster. He moves lighter on his feet. There is something about this place that makes him play 30 per cent better. Just from being on this court.”