Nadal hit by Fancy Bear leak

Rafa Nadal is the latest athlete to have their Wada records leaked by the Russian hackers known as Fancy Bear. Nadal, who joins Serena and Venus Williams as the biggest tennis names hit by the leak thus far, dismissed any questions about his records as being “imflammatory”.

The papers released by Fancy Bear show that the world No.4 received injections of Tetracosactide in 2012. Nadal was injured at the time of the injections, and granted a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) retrospectively in August of that year.

Tetracosactide stimulates the production of corticosteroids, which aides the reduction of pain and imflammation. The drug has been previously linked to several doping cases in cycling.

Speaking to Spanish media yesterday, Nadal dismissed any speculation around the leak.

“When you ask permission to take something for therapeutic reasons and they give it to you, you’re not taking anything prohibited,” Nadal told Spanish media. “It’s not news, it’s just inflammatory.”

“It would be much more beneficial for sportsmen and women, spectators and media that every time a drug test is taken the news is made public and two weeks later there are the results,” Rafa continued. “This would end the problem. Sport has to take a step forward and be totally transparent. I have been saying this for years.”

It is the second time this year that Nadal has had his medical history questioned. In March, Nadal threatened to sue former French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot after she said that his absence from the sport in 2012 was due to a positive doping test.