Rafael’s Uncle Toni Nadal explains Rafa’s Australian Open Final

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 29th January 2014

Rafael's Uncle Toni Nadal explains Rafa's Australian Open Final

epa04042558 Rafael Nadal of Spain during his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the men's final at the Australian Open tennis tournament in EPA/MARK DADSWELL AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Toni Nadal has launched into another defence of his nephew in an attempt to explain the situation behind Rafael Nadal’s back injury situation in his losing Australian Open final to Stanislas Wawrinka.

Nadal tweaked his back in the warmup and later found his game severely hampered, drawing boos from fans when he returned after a lengthy injury timeout in his losing effort.

The senior Nadal has gone to the attack. telling The Australian: ““Just my opinion, but I don’t think the crowd should be doing this. Rafael has always given his best at this tournament, all tournaments. He tries to treat all of the people with respect .

“He had to continue. He knows that people have paid money for tickets to be here for the match, the grand slam final. He knows a lot of people are seeing the television. He does not want them to have, how do I say, the stopped show.”

Nadal said that his nephew would almost never quit a match, something he has done only four times since 2007. “Whatever happens to his body, he will finish for them. The crowd here had always been very good for him and Rafael will not complain about nothing, ever.

“But he is disappointed, of course. I wish it had not been like this for him. He wanted to play for the crowd and if he was not going to win, he wanted Wawrinka to be winning a match point. Not shaking hands when a match is stopped. This is important.”

Nadal said fans had no idea what was going on with his nephews back- logically enough, as no announcement was made when he left the court specifying as to why. “The crowd did not know what was happening, I see this. But I think if you do not know something for sure, why say anything? “Rafael enjoys this tournament, he enjoys this crowd, he loves Rod Laver court. There are good memories here. But I wish people knew what Rafael was trying to do.”

Topics: 10sballs, Australian Open, Rafael Nadal, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News, Toni Nadal