A French tribunal orders former minister of health to pay Rafael Nadal $12k in damages for accusing him of doping
On Thursday, a French tribunal ordered a former minister of health and sports to pay World number one tennis star Rafael Nadal $11,800 in damages for accusing him of doping.
The tribunal found that Roselyne Bachelot, who served as the minister of health and sports between 2007 and 2010, defamed the 16-time grand slam winner during a March 2016 television appearance in France.
The tennis star filed a lawsuit against Bachelot the following month, saying at the time that the case was intended “to defend my integrity and my image as an athlete, but also the values I have defended all my career.
In a statement released by a representative of Nadal’s PR team, the Spanish player said he also sought to prevent “any public figure from making insulting or false allegations against an athlete using the media, without any evidence or foundation and to go unpunished. The motivation as I have always remarked was not economical”.
Nadal said he would donate the 10,000 euros awarded to him to a French charity. After filing the lawsuit, Nadal asked the International Tennis Federation to disclose the results of all doping tests he has ever taken.
