Nadal awarded damages over doping claim

Rafael Nadal has won a defamation case against a former French minister who accused him of doping.

Roselyne Bachelot, who served as minister for health and sport between 2007 and 2010, suggested in a TV interview last year that Nadal had faked a knee injury that ruled him out of the latter six months of 2012 in order to cover up a doping violation.

Nadal has never failed a drugs test and denies doping.

The world number one men’s tennis player had sought €100,000 in damages and has claimed he will donate the money he has been awarded to a French charity.

The 16-time grand slam champion said in a statement: “When I filed the lawsuit against Mrs Bachelot, I intended not only to defend my integrity and my image as an athlete, but also the values I have defended all my career.

“I also wish to stop any public figure from making insulting or false allegations against an athlete using the media, without any evidence or foundation, and to go unpunished.”

Bachelot was also handed a suspended fine of €500.

Concerns over a knee injury led Nadal, who has a history of tendinitis, to withdraw from the season-ending ATP Finals in London.