Nadal Understands the French Open History of a Long Lunch No Matter What

Written by: Staff on 11th June 2012

Nadal Understands the French Open History of a Long Lunch No Matter What

epa03259551 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their final match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 11 June 2012. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

Rafael Nadal laughed off the rows of empty seats at the start of his French Open semi-final with David Ferrer, with the knowledge that a long lunch takes precedence early afternoon tennis at Roland Garros.

As a neighbor from a nation where dinner does not start until around 10 p.m., Spain’s Nadal knows perfectly well that a leisurely French lunch trumps tennis, even for a high-profile match-up.

The second seed said that the 1 p.m. start was without doubt the reason for the absentee spectators. “The timing probably wasn’t the best. 1:00 is probably not the best timing,” he said. “That’s the reason, in my opinion. I’ve played almost every day but I can’t say every day with a full court.

“It’s not, though, when you play since the first round with full crowd, full stadium in every round and you arrive to the semi-finals. At 1:00 it’s is a little bit early. But at the end of the match, the court was almost everything full.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, David Ferrer, French Open 2012, Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis news, Sports, Tennis