Nadal criticizes the Sao Paolo tournament

[Talker]

World No. 5 Rafael Nadal has come out on Wednesday with some scathing remarks towards the organisers of the Brasil Open, a tournament which is a part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series.

"It is unacceptable that a tournament is held in these conditions. The bounce of the ball is too irregular, the lines are falling off and the balls are far too soft. You can not have any long rallies here."

Nadal followed that up with a critique of the ATP.

"This situation is a consequence of the ATP's lack of worry for the players. These courts are bad for the health of the players and I hope someone will take action against this. The audience wants to see long matches and on these kinds of courts that is impossible without injuries, no?"

When asked about the state of his knee, Nadal was cautiously optimistic.

"My knee feels a bit better today. Of course, it still changes from day to day, some day it's better, some day it's worse. All I can do is see how things go and I hope the injury will not cause me to lose matches I could win."

He assured the Brazilian journalists that his qualms were with the São Paulo tournament only.

"I love playing in Brazil and I am already looking forward to the Olympics in Rio. I just think that this tournament has had some problems with the organisation, but my team and I are going to talk to the organisers and see if it can be fixed."

[jaggy]

What color is the court?

[Govnor]

Yellow Courts, like the flag.

[mariecon]

so now clay courts are bad for the players? LOL. What's left? He's criticized hard courts, now clay. What a primadonna.

[Fiji]

Already coming up with excuses to justify his eventual loss in Brazil.

I wonder what excuse he will come up with to justify his loss in Mexico?

[jwbarrientos]

Originally Posted by Fiji

Already coming up with excuses to justify his eventual loss in Brazil.

I wonder what excuse he will come up with to justify his loss in Mexico?

hmmm ... what about complaining about those big hats from Mexico, spicy food?

[Colin]

Originally Posted by jwbarrientos

hmmm ... what about complaining about those big hats from Mexico, spicy food?

I have some he can use. It's kind of a dream to become an excuse writer for Rafa, knowing it's steady work in a bad economy and all. Fingers crossed *** texts him one and he uses it.

1. Blood-thirsty drug cartels wanted him to buy PEDs from them. He vociferously objected and gave them Nole's IM info but now fears for his life.

2. Burned his hand on a hot fajita grill. (Then hurt his other hand swinging a bat at a piñata.)

3. Mexican Spanish is not exactly the same as Spanish Spanish. Is confusing, no?

4. Choked on a taco. He realized he was eating goat. "I'm not cannibal, no?" Then, when he notices media are nearby: "Of course, Roger is the greatest in the history." Speaking of which ...

5. Roger isn't playing, so Nadal is denied the opportunity to play his best tennis. Playing lower-quality players brings down the quality of his game.

6. The clay is too clay-ey here.

7. After complaining to a group of onlookers in town about the proliferation of hard courts on tour, they invited him to try out the local grass. He went to conjure some of his Wimbledon magic, but they presented him with marijuana instead to treat his depression, so he accidentally got high from the secondhand smoke when he kissed one of the women (*wink*) and missed the start of the match. Even then he would have preferred to chill and munch quesadillas instead of running around in the hot sun.

8. "This would never happen in Monte Carlo."

9. The lounge chairs by the five-star-resort pool are dangerous even by the very perilous standards of chairs in general, resulting in an MTO.

10. His four margaritas were lined up on the bench as requested, but they did not have salt on the rim. Shame on Mexico!

[Cup8489]

Next he's going to say that the balls cause him tennis elbow.

[Feather]

Originally Posted by Cup8489

Next he's going to say that the balls cause him tennis elbow.

Ridiculous, there is nothing on earth left that he doesn;t complain about.

[psYcon]

First it was Madrid's blue clay, and now this.

[NadalDramaQueen]

I hope this is a joke.

[mattennis]

What? Is he complaining about a clay-court and/or balls being too fast so that the points are not long enough (for him)?

This must be a joke, right?

Seriously, Nadal should have been born 20 years earlier. Should have had the experience of facing a Krajicek, Ivanisevic, Rosset, Stich, Becker, Arthurs, Forget, Wheaton,....on a very slick and fast grass or many ultra-fast low-bouncing indoor carpets from the 80s and beginning of the 90s.

Players like Muster, Bruguera or even Berasategui (who was awful on very fast and low-bouncing surfaces) had to play on those conditions several times a year, and they tried their best (even Muster and Bruguera had some success sometimes on very fast conditions).

What does Nadal want? He is playing in a very special era. An era where there isn't fast court/balls conditions anymore.

And still he complains about some clay court/ball being too fast?

For Goodness sake....

[vive le beau jeu !]

Originally Posted by Talker

World No. 5 Rafael Nadal has come out on Wednesday with some scathing remarks towards the organisers of the Brasil Open, a tournament which is a part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series.

"It is unacceptable that a tournament is held in these conditions. The bounce of the ball is too irregular, the lines are falling off and the balls are far too soft. You can not have any long rallies here."

Nadal followed that up with a critique of the ATP.

"This situation is a consequence of the ATP's lack of worry for the players. These courts are bad for the health of the players and I hope someone will take action against this. The audience wants to see long matches and on these kinds of courts that is impossible without injuries, no?"

seriously ?!
seems our TTW jokes were not enough... the grumpy golden bull had to push the limits of pathetic whining even further !!!

Originally Posted by Fiji

Already coming up with excuses to justify his eventual loss in Brazil.

I wonder what excuse he will come up with to justify his loss in Mexico?

it's already decided:
he doesn't like the color of mexican beans.
(their colour is a consequence of the ATP's lack of worry for the tacos)

[フェデラー]

Nadal's criticisms are justified...


From Dustin Brown:
Erry1 Knows The Courts Here @brasilopen2013 R ****... I Twist My Ankle During Play & Say "Its A **** Court" & Get A Point Penalty...

Retweeted Dustin Brown Fans (@dustinbrownfans):

Must feel for Ramriez twisting his ankle due to the shitty courts in Sao Paolo. Feels like Dustin was right about what he said in the match

So it seems there is a problem with the clay.

[ViscaB]

Nadal also fell in the doubles match.

I don't think the organizers are too bothered about what Rafa says. All his matches are sold out.

[TennezSport]

I texted my bud who is stringing at the event and he stated that the courts in SP have a harder under surface and a thinner top coat (similar to Madrid). Ball will bounce a little faster so they are using slightly softer balls to compensate. This may throw some players off in timing and footwork, but it's not dangerous.

Cheers, TennezSport

[cluckcluck]

Originally Posted by TennezSport

I texted my bud who is stringing at the event and he stated that the courts in SP have a harder under surface and a thinner top coat (similar to Madrid). Ball will bounce a little faster so they are using slightly softer balls to compensate. This may throw some players off in timing and footwork, but it's not dangerous.

Cheers, TennezSport

Tennis is about adapting. Not every tournament is ever going to play identical as the day before, let alone the year before.
Players need to understand this.

[Clarky21]

Originally Posted by cluckcluck

Tennis is about adapting. Not every tournament is ever going to play identical as the day before, let alone the year before.
Players need to understand this.

There's a difference between a court not suiting a certain players style, and a court that is unsafe.

[mariecon]

Originally Posted by ViscaB

Nadal also fell in the doubles match.

I don't think the organizers are too bothered about what Rafa says. All his matches are sold out.

He should leave these smaller tournaments to the journeymen. That's why they exist. Without them, the lower ranked players would never win a tournament. It's really not right. I think he's getting what he deserves.

[Clarky21]

Nadal is not the only one to complain about the courts in Brasil. Many players have complained about the courts and the lousy tennis balls they are using there. No surprise he gets flack from the usual suspects around here for every single thing he does, even if what he's saying is justified.