In the aftermath of Rafael Nadal's historic victory at Roland Garros, two leading French players voiced their concerns about the injections the Spanish tennis star used to treat his injured foot during the tournament.

Nadal, who on Sunday won his record-breaking 14th Roland Garros title and 22nd Grand Slam title, later revealed that the treatment for his ongoing foot problem included an injection that blocks certain nerves.

Thibaut Pinot expressed a sarcastic view of the matter on social media. Pinot quoted a tweet in which Nadal said "you don't want to know" how many injections he received during the tournament, "Today's hero is ......" he wrote, along with two emojis (the first a thinking face, the second a melting face).

Pinot of Gulpama-FDJ did not elaborate on his comments, but later retweeted the comments of investigative journalist Clémence Lacourt.

"His [Pino's] tweet was a tongue-in-cheek reference to 'heroes of the day. ' Heroes who choose to perform at the expense of their own bodies and at the cost of physical problems so severe that they have to be put to sleep. Is this the model we want for ourselves and our children?

Pino and his team are members of the Movement for Reliable Cycling (MPCC), which adheres to voluntary regulations beyond the UCI's anti-doping rules.

He has spoken out about ethical concerns in the past, most notably last year when he revealed that he received out-of-competition corticosteroid injections to treat a long-standing back injury and expressed concern about the treatment and the therapeutic use exemption (TUE) regulations for athletes to use such substances during competition He explained his belief that cycling operates at "two speeds" because it can be "abused."

Another French rider followed up on the issue on Tuesday, with Guillaume Martin speaking extensively to the French newspaper L'Equipe (opens in new tab).

"What Nadal did is not possible in cycling and I think it is normal," the Cofidis rider said, referring to the UCI's no-needle policy introduced in 2011.

"If you are sick or injured, you don't race, you don't compete. First of all, it's for the health of the athlete. In the long run, I don't think it will be good for Nadal's ankle. Furthermore, medication, especially injections, may not only have a healing effect, but may also affect or be twisted to improve performance.

Martin, a philosopher and published author, spoke about the cultural differences between cycling and other sports, citing the Festina case and cycling's generally checkered past regarding doping.

"If a cyclist does the same thing, it is already banned, but even if it wasn't, everyone will accuse them of doping because cycling has such a cultural background and clichés.

"On the other hand, people praise Nadal for his ability to go deep into pain. I think [soccer player] Zlatan Ibrahimovic also talked about knee injections. They look like heroes because they endure pain deeply, but in reality, they are using substances to endure pain deeply, and once again, that is very limiting. Winners of cycling events, especially the Tour, are systematically accused of doping, even if they have nothing to show for it.

According to Martin, in the absence of an effective and comprehensive ethical framework, the onus is on each individual to decide what they are comfortable with.

"The UCI rules are, to me, the bare minimum. There are many things that are allowed that I myself forbid. It's a gray area issue, like twisting drugs used to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, for example. I don't think I would take something like that to be a better cyclist, but it is allowed," he insisted. [Anti-doping agencies are always one step behind. It is up to each individual to build his own code of ethics. Sometimes that code makes my results worse, but I still stay true to myself and I am happy with that."