Editors note: We remember when the Spaniards wouldn’t even play the US Open because for the same reason …. They would practically boycott and their seedlings took that into account.
Rafael Nadal is absolutely not a fan of the faster courts laid down for this edition of the Australian Open, with the Spaniard complaining that they will cut the spectacle from matches. What he means is more along the lines of what the speed might do his own heavy game which relies on brute power on slower courts to bludgeon his opponents.
“I really don’t understand very well why they change because the last couple of years,” complained Nadal prior to his first-round start against Australian Bernard Tomic. “The Australian Open had amazing matching, long ones, good ones for the crowd. I don’t know why the people who decide to make the conditions that fast.
“I’m not sure for the show is the best thing. But they decide and I’m just a player to try to be competitive from the beginning. I am practicing every day as much as I can and with the right intensity, the right attitude.”
Melbourne is the only major where Nadal has won only a single title, but that statistic is not a bother.
“I was not lucky in this tournament in the past. In 2006 I couldn’t play the tournament. Against (Andy) Murray (2010) I had to retire. Against David (Ferrer, 2011) couple years ago, well, I didn’t retire, but I had torn a little bit the muscle in the second game of the match.
“It’s really the Grand Slam I have the most trouble during all my career.”
PS. A simple solution would have been to get to Melbourne sooner.
Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, Australian Open, Bernard Tomic, David Ferrer, Grand Slam, Melbourne, Rafael Nadal, Tennis, Tennis News