Rafael Nadal Gets Slandered Too!!

His Shoes:

Before I get to his story, this is a shoe blog so I just want to share with you some of the shoes he was wearing in the 2014 French Open tourney.  Check out these Nike Air Max Courtballistec 4.3 trainers.

I just love the turquoise body, with the honey-comb layering all over it.  His signature bullhorn logo is pretty cool too.  Below are some images of these shoes and how they looked after Rafa retired them while performing in them the year before.

Courtesy of MoneySneakers.com

The only difference between this pair and the ones he performed in at the 2014 French Open is there is an "8" on the back of his left shoe, signifying that he has won 8 French Open titles going into the that year's event.  Click here to see how much these shoes ended up auctioning for.

His Story:

If you have been following my blog, you know of the slanderous abuse I've been shouldering for the past year and a half.  Now I've just discovered that Rafael Nadal has been taking the same kind of abuse.

It all started when Maria Sharapova failed a drug test and could face a suspension from competitive tennis for up to 4 years.  In the wake of this development, "former French Minister for Health and Sport Roselyne Bachelot told French television on Thursday that Nadal’s seven-month injury hiatus in 2012 was “'probably due to a positive doping test.'” (nypost.com, 2016)  

So basically, Bachelot's rationale was if she has been as good as she has been due to her ingestion of P.E.D.'s, then that means that Nadal is P.E.D.-positive just because of how long he's performed at a high level and used a 6-month knee injury as a cover up his suspension.

My Supporting Arguments for Rafa:

I'm going to speak up for Nadal here.  I've personally suffered a knee injury, bad enough that I was put near the top of the waiting list for surgery.  I was barely able to resume work after a 4-month layoff, and had to rehab for an additional 4 months before I could participate in a (very hilly) 10-k run.  *I was able to finish the circuit in just over an hour, by the way*

The point is, knee injuries don't just heel over night.  They take time, especially if the knees take the brunt of your body weight.  My surgeon said for me to be able to run 10K only after 8 months is quite impressive.  To be able to play tennis at a very high level, an activity that requires a lot more stress on the knee is even more impressive.

Just because they are elite athletes doesn't mean they don't get injured and just because they are dominant in their respective sports with a prolonged injury doesn't mean they're lying about the length of time they need to recover in order to resume competition.  Does that mean it's reasonable to assume Chris Bosh's on-and-off blood clot diagnosis is a cover up serving time for his infractions?  Does that mean the fact that Steven Stamkos' teases fans of his small chance to play in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs (even though it was originally announced that he was done for the season) that he is appealing some sort of suspension, and that's why he's leaving the door open to resuming play??

I can understand why Nadal is still infuriated to this day.  I was just starting to get over the gym situation until Jesse from the Nanaimo Value Village used my past incident to accuse me of causing a nuisance amongst customers.  What C.K. did took a lot out of my desire to run like I used to.  Like Nadal, I can only take so much before making a stand for myself.  For Nadal, it's launching a lawsuit against Bachelot.  For me, it's increasing my blog's exposure to defend myself from wrongful claims made against me and to hold those who hurt me accountable, socially, at the very least.