Rafael Nadal has announced he will sue Roselyne Bachelot, formerly the French minister of health and sport, following her allegation the Spaniard tested positive in a doping test in 2012.
Per BBC Sport, he said: "A minister of France should be serious. This time is the time to go against her. We are going to sue her. This is going to be the last one, because I'm going to sue her. I am tired about these things. I let it go a few times in the past. Not any more."
Further, he said he will do the same for anyone who says "something similar in the future."
Bachelot made the allegation in the wake of Maria Sharapova's positive test for meldonium.
Following his early exit from Wimbledon in 2012, Nadal was absent for the next seven months because of an injury to his knee. Bachelot attributed his absence as "probably due to a positive doping test," adding: "When you see a tennis player stopping for months, it's because there's been a positive control."
Nadal has firmly denied the allegations. Following Sharapova's failed test, he said: "I am a completely clean guy. I have never had the temptation of doing something wrong."
Journalist Carole Bouchard described the emotion with which Nadal spoke following his victory over Gilles Muller at Indian Wells:
I was already told Nadal has been deeply hurt by the last doping accusations & that his lawyer already contacted colleagues in France, but— Carole Bouchard (@carole_bouchard) March 14, 2016
it's even clearer now how absolutely outraged Nadal is after his presser. He's so angry. Says for now on he'll sue anyone coming up w/ that— Carole Bouchard (@carole_bouchard) March 14, 2016
Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times shared the 14-time Grand Slam winner's full comments, in which he also thanked those who have supported him and explained how tired he was of doping accusations after working so hard to achieve what he has in the game:
Full comments from Rafael Nadal on his anger at and plans to sue Roselyne Bachelot for her silent ban accusations: pic.twitter.com/yzX7vmkWaN— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) March 14, 2016
Real Madrid, the team Nadal supports, released a statement in his defence on their official website. Per the MailOnline's Stuart Fraser, so too did the Barcelona Open ATP tournament:
"Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell tournament director Albert Costa will travel to Miami next week to support Nadal in person."— Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) March 12, 2016
The majority of the 29-year-old's success in Grand Slams has come at the French Open, with nine of his titles coming at Roland Garros.
As the BBC noted in their report, in 2012—the same year in which Nadal won in Paris before his long spell on the sidelines—a joke was made at his expense on a satirical television show in France, which depicted the Spaniard refuelling his car with his own urine.
According to AS, the previous year former France Davis Cup captain and French Open champion Yannick Noah wrote in Le Monde that doping helped Nadal achieve his success.
However, as AS further noted he has never failed a drugs test in his career—and it seems now he's determined to put an end to the allegations made against him.