Rafael Nadal 'feeling better' ahead of French Open but says 'pain is always there' due to foot injury

Rafael Nadal has played down concerns over his injured foot ahead of his quest for a record-extending 14th French Open title. There were doubts over whether the 35-year-old would even play in Paris after he limped and grimaced towards the end of his Italian Open defeat to Denis Shapovalov earlier this month. Ad/> Nadal also lost to Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid, when he was returning from a rib injury, and has not won a clay title this season.

TennisFederer 'really inspired' by Nadal, hopes to 'hit ground running' on return3 HOURS AGO He says he “feels better” after his foot injury flared up in Rome but is continuing to “live” with the problem “every day”. “What happened in Rome is something that happened very often in my practices,” said Nadal ahead of his opening match against Australian Jordan Thompson. “But yeah I was suffering after that for a couple of days, but I feel better.

That's why I'm here. But what happened there I think everybody knows, and I talked after the match very open about what's going on. But at the same time I said is something that can be better in the near future.

And I hope that's the case here. Nadal, Djokovic, Alcaraz on same half of draw Federer 'really inspired' by Nadal comeback “The pain is always there. It's not about going disappear now.

It's about if the pain is high and strong enough to allow me to play with real chances or not. “I answered of course the questions, and I will answer the questions, but I will not be talking all the time about my foot even if I understand that it's something that's normal, because after what happened in Rome. But in my case, is something that I live every day with that, so is nothing new for me and is not a big surprise.