Top
Rafa Nadal French Open 2022

Patrick McEnroe calls for Rafael Nadal ‘conspiracy theorists’ to stop doping accusations


Patrick McEnroe has defended Rafael Nadal after the Spaniard fends off loose allegations of doping.

The Nature of Nadal’s painkilling injections at the French Open earlier this month have raised eyebrows among some, with prominent road cyclists saying it would be considered ‘doping’ in their sport.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director general Olivier Niggli has already spoken up about the allegations, confirming that Nadal is doing nothing that is prohibited.

Patrick McEnroe has now had his say too, and called for the talk of doping to stop.

“So Nadal goes on to win [the French Open],” McEnroe said. “I don’t know how he does it. He said he took some painkilling injections.

“I’m no Doctor, I don’t know exactly what they are. People, you know, there are conspiracy theorists now coming out in the tennis world.

“There’s one conspiracy that Nadal is doping, he’s taking some sort of drug.

“Look, they test him all the time at the majors and whatever they’re putting in his ankle, I think it’s just a painkiller.

“Again, I’m not a doctor, I don’t know exactly what it is, but if it was something that was against the rules he’d be caught.”

Rafael Nadal said after the French Open that he would not be using the same injections at Wimbledon that he used at Roland Garros.

๐ŸŽพ Free >> Join our legendary newsletter

๐ŸŽพย Join >> Receive $700/ยฃ600 of tennis gear from the Tennishead CLUB

๐ŸŽพ Social >> Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube

๐ŸŽพ Read >> World’s best tennis magazine

๐ŸŽพ Watch >> How to enjoy ATP/WTA/Slam tennis on TV

๐ŸŽพ Shop >> Lowest price tennis gear from our trusted partner


Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.