Rafael Nadal is one of the first major athletes to use the Tennis Doctor Light. Our lead engineer has used this technology with many household names behind the scenes during the last decade. This is his experience with Rafa and his team back in 2013.

Carlos Costa contacted me in February 2013 through a mutual connection (Chuck Bennet with IMG as at the time Rafa was with IMG). Rafa had been hurting badly for a number of months and surgery was recommended. Rafa and the team did not want to have surgery on his knee. Contacting me was basically a last ditch effort.

Rafa and the team planned to fly me to Brazil for a tournament Rafa was playing the following week. I was not able to get my passport in time and so couldn't go at the last minute. Rafa beat David Nalbandian in the final. Rafa planned a vacation with his family and team the following week in Cozumel. He asked that if he flew me to the resort and put me up if I would come to meet him, explain the technology to him and his family, and treat him. Of course, I said yes. I first met Rafael Nadal and his family and his team in Cozumel in February 2013.

Regarding the tournament he had just played, Rafa told me that he was planning to default in the finals. However, his team suggested that he play one set for the fans. Rafa said Nalbandian was playing so poorly that after winning the first set he decided he could finish. He ended up finishing the match and winning, but isn't really sure how he was able to do so. He told me that he was in 8/10 pain while just walking. He asked me about the technology and what I thought it could do for him and how long it would take for him to feel positive effects if it was going to work. I told him I couldn't be exactly sure, but the technology was unlike anything else out there. I also told him I thought for sure that he would be able to play at Roland Garros that year (about 4 months away). He said that if he could play Roland Garros that he would make sure I was sitting there in his box.

I hung out with Rafa and his family and the team and treated Rafa with the Tennis Doctor Light for 3 days. Rafa could have used the light himself, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to meet him and spend a couple hours/day treating and speaking with him. The team told me they didn't feel confident my technology would help after taking a look at its simplicity, but they didn't have anything to lose. The next morning at breakfast (I treated Rafa for 2 hours in the AM and 2 hrs in the afternoon) Rafa told me that his pain was a 4-5/10. He was nice the first day we met, but after feeling what he did when he woke up the first AM after using the technology, he was definitely much more enthusiastic about the technology.

I treated him for 4 hours the 2nd day as well. On the 3rd day he tells me that he was feeling well enough that Carlos recommended he play in Acapulco. This was only 1 week after telling me that he thought he was going to withdraw in the finals of Brazil. He asked me advice on his schedule and treatment going forward and we mapped out a basic treatment plan and schedule together. I left Cozumel and Rafa and the team headed to Acapulco. Rafa and his team and I were very pleased with the initial results. However, we didn't know that he was about to go on a tear and have one of the best years in his storied career. 

Rafa won Acapulco. I saw him and the team again in Madison Square Garden at Tennis Night in America about one month later where he played an exhibition against Juan Martin del Potro. Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka also played that night. He then went on to win Indian Wells in March, lose in the finals in Monte Carlo, win Barcelona, win Madrid, Rome, and then the French Open. As promised, I was sitting in his box for the semis against Djokovic and the finals against Ferrer. The European clay court season in 2013 was Rafa's most successful in his entire career (earning 5100 ATP points).

Rafa went on to lose in the first round of Wimbledon and then take a break before going on another rampage on the hard courts. He went on to win the Summer Slam  (Montreal, Cincinnati, U.S. Open) in magnificent fashion.

In Asia, Rafa got to the finals in China, semis in Shanghai; he then got to the semis in Paris before going undefeated and getting all the way to the finals of the ATP World Tour Finals before falling to Djokovic. 

Throughout the entirety of 2013 starting in February when we met, Rafa was using the Tennis Doctor Light and other elements of my technology. I had consistent contact with the team for the next few years before Angel Ruiz Cotorro told me that he no longer needed my assistance.