Toni Nadal Condemns Enforcement of Time Violations

Written by: Staff on 22nd March 2013

Toni Nadal Condemns Enforcement of Time Violations

epa03193670 Toni Nadal (L), uncle and coach of Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal (R) during a training session in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, at the Tennis Open Conde de Godo, 23 April 2012. Nadal will play his first match on 25 April. EPA/ANDREU DALMAU |

Toni Nadal, the uncle and coach of Rafael, has never been shy about offering his opinions, just like his nephew these days.

While Toni Nadal did not accompany Rafael to Indian Wells, he closely observed the matches and does frequently talk to his nephew. Francisco Roig coached Rafa Nadal during the Indian Wells, which he normally does.

Rafael Nadal and Roig were called for a coaching violation during Rafa’s victory over Ernests Gulbis at Indian Wells.

“The ATP I think in some ways … It does not seem normal to me that they pay person who does nothing in the most important moments, but it is his understanding of the game and the situation,” Toni Nadal told Puntodebreak.com “They can do what they want.”

Like Rafael, Toni Nadal does not agree with the ATP’s enforcement of the 25 second time violation rule, which was approved by the ATP Players Council. “It seems to me to be fatal,” Toni said “When you intend to make a change in the game the first thing you should always consider is the reason for these changes. What is the reason for these changes? Why try to change the situation? I think the first thing you should do is think about what kind of game you want to offer the spectator. This is so simple and the ATP didn’t do it. In other sports it would be unthinkable. They did not think what kind of show they wanted for their fans.

When you put a 25-second rule it is clear that what you offer is a fast sport, for example so the points are faster and that exchanges are four or five balls at the most.”

Toni Nadal noted that in the finals of the 2012 Australian Open and Roland Garros there were long rallies and those exchanges happened after a break of 40 or 45 seconds.

“There was no other way to recover,” he said. “I told the ATP to look at the iPad which had the 25 best points of the year for each player and they would see that few were two or three exchange rallies. The good points are often long rallies. If you see that I don’t understand why you [made the change], it doesn’t work in my mind.”

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Topics: ATP tennis news, Francisco Roig, Rafael Nadal, Sports, Tennis News, Tennis time violations, Toni Nadal