Nadal, now competing at a hard-court tournament in the Indian Wells in California, hit back at his critics, saying he wants justice and plans to sue those who claimed he was using performance-enhancing drugs.
Former French minister for health and sports Roselyne Bachelot earlier accused the winner of 14 Grand Slam single titles of taking a banned substance in 2012, claiming he missed most tournaments of that year after being tested positive for doping.
“We know that Nadal’s famous seven-month injury was without a doubt due to a positive [drug test]. When you see a tennis player who stops playing for long months, it is because he has tested positive and because they are covering it up. It is not something that always happens, but yes it happens more than you think,” Bachelot was quoted by The Guardian as saying.
But the Spaniard known as one of the greatest clay-court players vehemently denied Bachelot’s allegations.
“I gonna sue her, and I gonna sue everyone who gonna comment something similar in the future, because I am tired of that,” Nadal said in a report by the AFP.
“I am tired about these things. I let it go a few times in the past. No more,” Nadal said insisting he has never tested positive for doping while on the ATP Tour.
The 29-year-old Nadal, the only man to win the French Open nine times, missed the remaining six months of 2012 because of a knee injury.
Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and longtime coach, as well as the Spanish government and Spain’s Olympic Committee also denied Bachelot’s accusations, according to an AP report.
Spain’s Higher Sports Council president Miguel Cardenal branded the allegations as “slander” while Toni Nadal called the former French official an “imbecile.” The Spanish Olympic Committee said Nadal had passed all “innumerable anti-doping controls.”
The doping allegations against Nadal surfaced following the admission of Russian star Maria Sharapova that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open in January.
Sharapova, 28, a five-time Grand Slam champion, is facing a lengthy suspension after the International Tennis Federation confirmed she tested positive for a banned drug called meldonium.
As a result, she was suspended as a United Nations goodwill ambassador.
