Rafael Nadal Roland Garros doping allegations ‘total ignorance,’ says compatriot

David Ferrer has blasted back at those who have suggested Rafael Nadal was ‘doping’ at the French Open.

Nadal went into Roland Garros suffering with a chronic foot injury that had forced him to limp out of Rome just days before.

He, though, was able to win the tournament whilst managing the pain through a series of anesthetizing injections that he said put his foot ‘to sleep.’

That led to criticisms from some road cyclists such as Guillaume Martin, who said: “If a cyclist did the same thing, even if it wasn’t forbidden, everyone would be calling him doped.”

Ferrer, though, has angrily rejected those claims, insisting that Rafael Nadal did nothing wrong and his detractors are speaking from a position of total ignorance.’

“That is total ignorance, because in the end they pass the same ADAMS controls as anyone, it is the same control,” Ferrer told Super Deporte.

“Playing [under anaesthesia] does not mean that you are doped or doing something illegal, it is simply an infiltration to be able to endure the pain at some point, which cyclists, tennis players, athletes, any type of sportsperson can do, because it is the same organization of all the sports.

“Sometimes it amazes me that athletes without real knowledge can speak so freely,” he added.

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