The Spanish tennis player, ranked number one in the world following a return to top form this year, is suing Bachelot for €100,000 (£89,000/$118,000) after she claimed that Nadal's seven-month injury break in 2012 was due to a failed drugs test. 

An initial hearing has been held at the Tribunal correctionnel de Paris in the French capital.

It had originally been due to be heard in July but was postponed because of the heavy case load of the court. 

It was not attended by Nadal, currently playing in the Shanghai Masters in China.

Bachelot, the French Minister for Health and Sports between 2007 and 2010, was also absent.

Nadal, winner of 16 Grand Slam titles, including this year's French Open and US Open, had filed the suit in April 2016 a few weeks after Bachelot had made her comments on French television channel D8.

"When you see a tennis player stopping for months, it’s because he has tested positive," Bachelot had said.

"Not every time, but very often."

Nadal's lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve, claimed the court that the doping allegations levelled by Bachelot could have had "major consequences" for his client, concerning his "existing or future sponsors".

Among the documents presented by Nadal was his medical file, which listed a serious left knee injury. 

Bachelot's lawyer Olivier Chappuis claimed the International Tennis Federation's anti-doping programme was at fault and that the governing body "has always been astonishingly lax".

Chappuis told the court:  "There is a vast gap between the success he enjoys and the weakness of anti-doping controls.

"What sponsor has abandoned Rafael Nadal because of these comments? 

"None."

Chappuis claimed that 70-year-old Bachelot had based her opinion on statements made in the media by former players Christophe Rochus, a Belgian whose highest world ranking was 38th in 2006, and Daniel Köllerer, an Austrian banned from the sport for life in 2011 for match-fixing. 

Bachelot's comments were also made a few weeks after Russia's Maria Sharapova had announced she had tested positive for the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

She was subsequently banned for 15 months and returned to action last April.

A decision is expected to be announced by the Tribunal on November 16.

Nadal has already said that if he receives any compensation he will donate the money to a charity in France.