Rafael Nadal Wonders If Officials Get Scrutinized

Written by: Staff on 10th May 2013

Rafael Nadal Wonders If Officials Get Scrutinized

epa03693361 Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal celebrates a point against Russian Mijail Youznhy during the Madrid Open tennis tournament round of 16 match at the Caja Magica pavilion in Madrid, central Spain, 09 May 2013. EPA/JuanJo Martin |

Nadal: Why don’t officials get warnings, too?

Rafael Nadal has been against the enforcement of the ATP’s 25-secod tie violation rules since the start and he received a warning in his victory over Mikhail Youzhny on Thursday. Nadal wasn’t overly upset about it, but what does make him a little perturbed is that officials don’t face the same scrutiny.

“The rules are the rules,” he said. “I’m not in favor of this rule without any doubt. I don’t think it’s good for the spectators or the player. The spectators love to see long points. But with this rule, the only thing they favor is that this doesn’t happen. Because with 25 seconds, it’s more difficult to recover and to have many points at this level. But, well, I am sanctioned for being slow. And to the chair umpire for not seeing ball that has gone out by one foot, really close to him, and at two kilometers per hour, they don’t tell them anything. They don’t say anything. You know, I say it in a good way.”

Nadal, who came from seven months off due to knee trouble in early February and has only lost two matches in that time, said that his legs are still bothering him at times.
“Sometimes I feel more and sometimes I feel less. Sometimes I have pain,” he said. “Since the first day sometimes it’s complicated, you know. I try to avoid talking about it as much as possible, whisper it, because the results have been so good that with respect to my rivals ‑‑ well, especially with respect to my rivals it’s not the moment to analyze how I am. It’s just to analyze that I’m playing again. While I can, I will continue on this line. If not, if one day I have pain and if I cannot continue, well, we’ll have to take some kind of decision to try and solve the problem with the knee.”

The 26-year-old Spaniard has reached the final or won four out of the six tournaments he’s entered since his comeback, only taking loss to Horacio Zeballos in his first event in Vina Del Mar, and then to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final of Monte Carlo. Djokovic was upset early in Madrid by Grigor Dimitrov. Nadal has better record on clay than his great rival, but he does not consider himself the favorite. In fact, the topic itself disgusts him.

“Less favorite?” Nadal asked. “Maybe because of the injuries. Well talking about the word ‘favorite,’ I’m tired of repeating it. The only one who is interested in the word ‘favorite’ is [the media]. We’re not interested in it. We try to do our best, and the only one who’s the favorite is the one who gets the championship in the end. It’s only lines for you to write. For us it’s nothing. We just go out there to the court day after day and we know we can win or lose. So this is the end of this speech of being favorite or not. Djokovic came from winning a lot of Grand Slams. He hasn’t had a single problem in a long time. Without doubt, he’s one of the maximum candidates to reach the goal that he has in each tournament.”
©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: ATP’s 25-secod tie violation rules, Mutua Madrid Masters, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis news, tennis rules