“If you don’t have the magic potion, it’s difficult to win,” Yannick Noah once accused Rafael Nadal of doping for ‘miracle healing’
Follow Us
Yannick Noah and Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest players of all time, was denied his third title of the year at the 2022 US Open in the Round of 16 by the in-form American Frances Tiafoe as the Spaniard lost in 4-sets. He had not lost a single match in the Grand Slams appearances this year until the American broke his winning streak.
Nadal was on the road to a calendar Grand Slam but faced a major setback when he was forced to withdraw from his semi-final match at Wimbledon due to his abdominal injury which kept him out for a few weeks for recovery and rehabilitation. He had already skipped playing at the Montreal Open and faced an early elimination at the Cincinnati Open with his fitness a bit of concern.
“We’re not being treated in the same way,” Yannick Noah accuses Rafael Nadal and other Spanish athletes of using illegal methods to boost their performance
Rafael Nadal had won the singles title at the Australian Open and at the French Open taking his tally to 22 singles Grand Slam titles surpassing Novak Djokovic‘s 21 titles and Roger Federer‘s 20 titles. But he had admitted his injuries and had to take anesthesia injections to deal with the pain during his matches at Roland Garros and to be able to play in his absolute fittest form. But that does not take away his hard work and efforts to be the absolute best.
Yannick Noah, a former tennis player from France, during interview with Le Monde newspaper in 2011, accused the Spanish athletes of widespread doping, especially the 22-time Grand Slam champion who has had some fitness issues for some time but did not have any proof to establish his allegations. He added that the only way to win was to stay one step ahead of the capabilities of the anti-doping tests.
He said “How can a country (Spain) dominate sport from one day to the next? Had they discovered avant-garde training techniques and methods that no one else imagined? If you don’t have the magic potion, it’s difficult to win. We’re not being treated in the same way as the majority of our adversaries from other countries. The best attitude to adopt is to accept doping. And then everyone will have the magic potion.”
Stay Updated!
Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)