Nadal plays non mandatory event, complains about schedule

[nfor304]

Nadal played Monte Carlo (non mandatory), entered Barcelona (also non mandatory) starting the next week, withdraws from Barcelona and blames his withdrawal on the poorly structured tournament schedule.



Yes Rafa, it is poorly structured if you intend to play every event, every week, even when you don't have to.

Sorry if I sound angry but it really bothers me how much he and other players complain about the schedule while simultaneously playing non mandatory events and not taking responsibility for setting their own schedule.

http://tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=5009&zoneid=4

 

[Cup8489]

At this point, I've given up hoping that he will screw his head on straight. He can't schedule worth a damn, and then complains about his own incompetency.

I blame him for all his problems. If he could schedule better there's no reason he wouldn't be number 1 right now. But alas, he's entirely clueless here. He's one of the best tennis players of his generation, but is worse than an amateur at planning ahead.

 

[bolo]

Nadal played Monte Carlo (non mandatory), entered Barcelona (also non mandatory) starting the next week, withdraws from Barcelona and blames his withdrawal on the poorly structured tournament schedule.



Yes Rafa, it is poorly structured if you intend to play every event, every week, even when you don't have to.

Sorry if I sound angry but it really bothers me how much he and other players complain about the schedule while simultaneously playing non mandatory events and not taking responsibility for setting their own schedule.

http://tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=5009&zoneid=4

No, nadal more or less plays the required number of tournaments during the year, around 16 or 18, can't remember which. He's not doing anything very different from what is required.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

Rafa's scheduling is not his strong suit. But that doesn't mean the schedule doesn't suck. Expecting Rafa not to play Monte Carlo either is not reasonable. RG is far enough, and the tournament is important to the kid. I hope he drops Madrid too though.

 

[Aldi Patron]

I don't really see the point in blaming the scheduling. If you're tired, just say you're tired and leave it at that. Maybe he wasn't planning on winning Monte Carlo.

 

[djokovicgonzalez2010]

Bothers me too. Imagine the outrage if Kolya complained about the schedule...

 

[nfor304]

Surely Nadal, who has lost no more than a handful of matches in the past 5 clay court swings, would have known that he was a pretty good chance to make the final of Monte Carlo, especially since it is no longer mandatory and would have a weaker field.

But he decided to enter Barcelona for the next week anyway, and says that he is too tired to play now.

Imagine if he actually had some hard matches in Monte Carlo instead of losing a record low number of games.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

Fact #1: Nadal is not good at scheduling, or even at dropping off tournaments early.

Fact #2: The ATP scheduling was conceived by a chimpanzee high on LSD.

(And both of these facts are largely unrelated.)

 

[TheLoneWolf]

[...]
Imagine if he actually had some hard matches in Monte Carlo instead of losing a record low number of games.

Yeah, it's obvious Nadal won Monte Carlo without making any serious effort, and practically spent the whole tournament talking to the (semihot) line judge girls while his opponents willfully hit the net over and over. :roll:

 

[TheLoneWolf]

Bothers me too. Imagine the outrage if Kolya complained about the schedule...

Why outrage? Nadal isn't the only player that has complained about the scheduling, but maybe the highest profile one. Hasn't your boy Djokovic ever complained abour scheduling? If he hasn't, he really should, because he often looks like he's toasted through the half point of most tournaments.

 

[doom]

I dont know how he's going to handle Roland Garros if he's this tired after losing 14 games to a bunch of clowns

 

[nfor304]

Yeah, it's obvious Nadal won Monte Carlo without making any serious effort, and practically spent the whole tournament talking to the (semihot) line judge girls while his opponents willfully hit the net over and over. :roll:

Yeah thats exactly what I meant by that. Thanks for filling in the gaps for everyone else.

I know winning the whole thing wouldn't have been easy, despite the scores.

But he still entered Barcelona the next week knowing full well that he was probably going to have a hard week in Monte Carlo. And he still withdraws and blames the schedule, despite having a much easier week than even he could have realistically expected.

 

[dh003i]

At this point, I've given up hoping that he will screw his head on straight. He can't schedule worth a damn, and then complains about his own incompetency.

I blame him for all his problems. If he could schedule better there's no reason he wouldn't be number 1 right now. But alas, he's entirely clueless here. He's one of the best tennis players of his generation, but is worse than an amateur at planning ahead.

He wouldn't be #1 right now because Federer is a better tennis player. That said, Nadal would have had a chance to defend his Wimbledon title, although I don't think he would've won.

 

[JennyS]

FINALLY, Rafa skips Barcelona. It's about time.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

Yeah thats exactly what I meant by that. Thanks for filling in the gaps for everyone else.

I know winning the whole thing wouldn't have been easy, despite the scores.

But he still entered Barcelona the next week knowing full well that he was probably going to have a hard week in Monte Carlo. And he still withdraws and blames the schedule, despite having a much easier week than even he could have realistically expected.

Maybe he's not feeling as well as he would have expected. The point is that to expect him to not play MC is unrealistic. It's like asking Fed to drop Cinci.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

He wouldn't be #1 right now because Federer is a better tennis player. That said, Nadal would have had a chance to defend his Wimbledon title, although I don't think he would've won.

Nonsense. If Nadal hadn't injured himself, he would have won RG and (possibly) Wimbledon. Roger might have won 0 Slams last year. (Or perhaps 1, if he had taken Wimbledon.)

 

[djokovicgonzalez2010]

O

Why outrage? Nadal isn't the only player that has complained about the scheduling, but mae the highest profile one. Hasn't your boy Djokovic ever complained abour scheduling? If he hasn't, he really should, because he often looks like he's toasted through the half point of most tournaments.

Yes, and it bothers me.I'm actually not a huge Djoker. fan, he's just my favorite of the top 5

 

[stapler]

>Nadal plays non mandatory event
>complains about schedule even though he plays more than he has to

Feels good, man.

 

[stapler]

Nonsense. If Nadal hadn't injured himself, he would have won RG and (possibly) Wimbledon. Roger might have won 0 Slams last year. (Or perhaps 1, if he had taken Wimbledon.)

But if Federer hadn't been ill with mono, he would have won every slam from '08 on. What do you make of that?

 

[TheLoneWolf]

O

Yes, and it bothers me.I'm actually not a huge Djoker. fan, he's just my favorite of the top 5

Fair enough man. I can respect that.

 

[TheLoneWolf]

But if Federer hadn't been ill with mono, he would have won every slam from '08 on. What do you make of that?

Every slam? I think you are forgetting RG. Plus Rafa was on the edge of winning Wimby already on 07. Taking into consideration mono, I think the only slam Fed might have missed is AO 08. That's if mono was as much as it was made up to be. I remember Fed being too fresh for mono in the Wimbledon 08 final. Even fresher than Nadal probably.

 

[swordtennis]

Was looking 4ward 2 him winning 6 straight @ Barcelona. Make History Good. Do Rome. Then skip Madrid. :neutral:

He probably feels he can win Roma, Madrid and FO and just wants the points.

 

[namelessone]

This schedule problem for Rafa is only a problem because he loves clay and wants to win everything on it. Also,he is Spanish and naturally he wants to play in front of his home crowd,in Barca and Madrid.
But here he has another problem,there are maybe five big clay tourneys in sight but one of them(barca) is nudged between two masters(mc and rome) and the third master is held on a weird type of clay but it is in Spain as well.

So he knows he has to sacrifice something but if he had one week off between MC and barca then it would be cool for him and he could play all.

In light of what happened to him next year,he decided to go with this schedule: MC-time off-Rome-time off-Madrid-time off-RG. But again,since he only has 5 CC tourneys a year he naturally wants to play in most of them because this is a friendly surface for him in more ways than one.

 

[Talker]

This schedule problem for Rafa is only a problem because he loves clay and wants to win everything on it. Also,he is Spanish and naturally he wants to play in front of his home crowd,in Barca and Madrid.
But here he has another problem,there are maybe five big clay tourneys in sight but one of them(barca) is nudged between two masters(mc and rome) and the third master is held on a weird type of clay but it is in Spain as well.

So he knows he has to sacrifice something but if he had one week off between MC and barca then it would be cool for him and he could play all.

In light of what happened to him next year,he decided to go with this schedule: MC-time off-Rome-time off-Madrid-time off-RG. But again,since he only has 5 CC tourneys a year he naturally wants to play in most of them because this is a friendly surface for him in more ways than one.

Probably right, this is Nadal's chance to rack up points and at the same time give the home crowd what they want.
I can't blame him really, it must be thrilling for him to be able to give his home crowd a good showing.
It's a tough decision, nothing is guaranteed for the next year or ever.

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

This schedule problem for Rafa is only a problem because he loves clay and wants to win everything on it. Also,he is Spanish and naturally he wants to play in front of his home crowd,in Barca and Madrid.
But here he has another problem,there are maybe five big clay tourneys in sight but one of them(barca) is nudged between two masters(mc and rome) and the third master is held on a weird type of clay but it is in Spain as well.

So he knows he has to sacrifice something but if he had one week off between MC and barca then it would be cool for him and he could play all.

In light of what happened to him next year,he decided to go with this schedule: MC-time off-Rome-time off-Madrid-time off-RG. But again,since he only has 5 CC tourneys a year he naturally wants to play in most of them because this is a friendly surface for him in more ways than one.

I've said this to you before and I'll say it again - Nadal has said numerous times in the past he doesn't care about ranking, or at least he doesn't care about playing extra/more tourneys just to be #1. If Rafa skipped a MC or Barcelona, or even both, it's not like he'll fall out of the top 10 or even the top 5. Sure clay is his favorite surface, but it's not like he won't get pts on HC and grass as well. (Unless of course he gets injured like he did last year and misses the grass season entirely).

My point is, Rafa missing one or two of MC, Madrid, or Barcelona isn't going to do significant damage to his rank. At this point, health and peaking at the slams should be his main concern, not playing certain events for points or consecutive titles or (as cruel as it may sound) the hometown fans. It's obvious something has to change, seeing as how 4 slams in a row now he's had some kind of injury concern. If it takes this long to get through his head that the MC and Barcelonas of the world don't make you great, it's the slams that matter most, maybe he wouldn't have as many injuries once the slams do come around.

 

[namelessone]

I've said this to you before and I'll say it again - Nadal has said numerous times in the past he doesn't care about ranking, or at least he doesn't care about playing extra/more tourneys just to be #1. If Rafa skipped a MC or Barcelona, or even both, it's not like he'll fall out of the top 10 or even the top 5. Sure clay is his favorite surface, but it's not like he won't get pts on HC and grass as well. (Unless of course he gets injured like he did last year and misses the grass season entirely).
.

I don't think this is about rank. Nadal loves to play on clay and he loves to play in front of his home crowd. But he only sees clay for like two months a year and even then some tourneys like barca are crammed and new tourneys like Madrid are stuffed in just cause. To me Hamburg had a better clay court and remember,Rafa only won there once so its not like I am making stuff up to favour Rafa.

Not to mention the fact that the clay season is the most screwed up on tour. Instead of having the last clay master as close as possible to RG speed it is the exact opposite with MC,the first one,being the closest in speed. Queens is pretty similar to WB,Cincy is pretty close to USO,so why the hell isn't MC the last masters before RG? Or at least Rome? Madrid should be the opener,not the closer.

They are trying to fix stuff up but seeing as the ATP is run by a bunch of morons I'm not holding my breath.
Here is the provisional calendar for 2011(though some of the dates may be wrong,look at RG,it is only one week apparently ):
http://www.atpworldtour.atponline.net/en/tournaments/fullcalendar/2011_atp.pdf

If the dates are correct they will have two consecutive tourneys(MC-Barca),one week break,another two consecutive tourneys(Madrid-Rome),one week break and then RG. What does this fix? Absolutely nothing IMO,if anything it just damages MC and Barca more as few players will play both and still have energy to do the other two with just one week break so obviously most players will play one,skip one(so as to have two weeks break instead of one) then play two-break then go on to RG.

 

[Li Ching Yuen]

The scheduling is just fine.

Look at Fed, he takes like one-month breaks and you don't hear him complain as much as Rafa.

Here's a bright idea, Rafael, how about you take a week off after every tournament?... the scheduling permits that...you should give it a try.

 

[jamesblakefan#1]

I don't think you're getting my point - just because Nadal likes to play on clay doesn't mean he has to play on every CC tourney under the sun. And yeah I may be slightly exaggerating, but you get my point. With Nadal's injuries the way they are, he can't play as much anymore, he has to realize that sooner rather than later. Yes the schedule is effed up, but that doesn't change the fact that Nadal knows the schedule in advance and still tries to play every tourney on clay, then when he withdraws blames the schedule, which he knew about all along. Two wrongs doesn't make a right. Nadal knows w/ the schedule the way it is now he has to cut some losses, so he should just skip either MC or Barca and stop complaining all the time.

Yes the schedule sucks, but the saying goes - fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me? Nadal's been hurt 4 straight slams now, you don't think that's not partially due to his pi$$ poor scheduling for his entire career? The point is - the goal of every player should be to peak at the slams. Other guys seem to have no problem resting injuries in order to be healthy for the slams. Nadal still seems to be stubborn about this and wants to play every tourney instead of cutting some and being healthy for the French. You seem to pass all the blame onto the ATP, instead of recognizing that Rafa's schedule every year on clay sucks, and eventually last year it caught up to him. Sure other guys play MC, Barca, Rome, and Madrid, but others aren't in the finals of damn near every CC tourney as well. Realizing that, Rafa should be prepared when he makes these deep runs and then has a tourney the week after, and not act as if it's some big surprise; yes the schedule is not perfect, but Nadal should've adjusted to that long ago instead of being stubborn and possibly killing his career.

Sorry if I sound harsh, it just seems your being an apologist to the nth degree on this issue, and this is something even the biggest Rafa fans agree on - his scheduling in and of itself sucks.

 

[roundiesee]

The OP has a point; Rafa should have just said he needed the rest and leave it at that. Criticising the scheduling when he plays a non-compulsory event is ludicrous

 

[TheLoneWolf]

The scheduling is just fine.

Look at Fed, he takes like one-month breaks and you don't hear him complain as much as Rafa.

Here's a bright idea, Rafael, how about you take a week off after every tournament?... the scheduling permits that...you should give it a try.

Exactly. And never play Davis Cup for your country either. The suckers don't deserve it, and you are too good for it.

 

[DragonBlaze]

Exactly. And never play Davis Cup for your country either. The suckers don't deserve it, and you are too good for it.

haha what in the world did Spain do to you?

 

[Rhino]

I agree, it's a bit stupid to criticize the schedule when he could have been on holiday between Miami and Rome.

 

[OrangeOne]

Yeah thats exactly what I meant by that. Thanks for filling in the gaps for everyone else.

I know winning the whole thing wouldn't have been easy, despite the scores.

But he still entered Barcelona the next week knowing full well that he was probably going to have a hard week in Monte Carlo. And he still withdraws and blames the schedule, despite having a much easier week than even he could have realistically expected.

^^ This is the single biggest point. He entered them both, and there is no way he could conceivably have had an easier time at MC. So it's either he's feeling worse injury wise (which is fine, just say so), or extreme lack of forethought. Either way, he shouldn't be blaming the tour. Edit: Of course, maybe he needs to hide the injury...hence the tour comments. Misdirection.

Also, it does show a lack of fan respect - plenty would have purchased Barca tickets based on Nadal being in the draw.

 

[aphex]

do they test for steroids in Barcelona?

 

[CMM]

do they test for steroids in Barcelona?

Yes. That's why Nadal won it for the last 5 years.

The only tournaments that aren't doing tests are Rogers Cup and Cincinnati.

 

[reversef]

The shame is not his schedule, but the calender. Think that we have one of the greatest clay court players of all time, if not the greatest one, and he only has 5 clay court tournaments a year in his schedule. Even those 5 are too much because of the calender. I would like to know what all those hard-court players would say if they had to play their best tournaments in such conditions.
Do you really think that playing 5 tournaments a year on clay (Roland-Garros, the 3 Masters Series played on the surface and his home tournament) is a lot for a player like him? Certainly not.
The reality is that the calender is done to kill the european clay-court season. I blame the Americans and only them: "Let's get rid of all those tournaments on clay, it's expansive and our players suck on the surface" must be their hymn.

 

[reversef]

I agree, it's a bit stupid to criticize the schedule when he could have been on holiday between Miami and Rome.

He should skip Monte-Carlo and play Bercy. Better for his knees and his results. Don't you understand that it's the only really good moment of the year for him. Other ones are on their best surface the whole year. Not him.

 

[Rhino]

The shame is not his schedule, but the calender. Think that we have one of the greatest clay court players of all time, if not the greatest one, and he only has 5 clay court tournaments a year in his schedule. Even those 5 are too much because of the calender. I would like to know what all those hard-court players would say if they had to play their best tournaments in such conditions.
Do you really think that playing 5 tournaments a year on clay (Roland-Garros, the 3 Masters Series played on the surface and his home tournament) is a lot for a player like him? Certainly not.
The reality is that the calender is done to kill the european clay-court season. I blame the Americans and only them: "Let's get rid of all those tournaments on clay, it's expansive and our players suck on the surface" must be their hymn.

At least he's not one of the greatest grass court players of all time, imagine how much he'd complain then!

 

[aphex]

Yes. That's why Nadal won it for the last 5 years.

The only tournaments that aren't doing tests are Rogers Cup and Cincinnati.

what does nadal have to do with my question?

 

[CMM]

what does nadal have to do with my question?

This thread is about Nadal.

 

[CMM]

Bothers me too. Imagine the outrage if Kolya complained about the schedule...

No one would care.

 

[reversef]

The scheduling is just fine.

Look at Fed, he takes like one-month breaks and you don't hear him complain as much as Rafa.

Here's a bright idea, Rafael, how about you take a week off after every tournament?... the scheduling permits that...you should give it a try.

Federer used to play much more than he does now. He started to play less at 26 or 27.
Of course, the idea of helping his country for the Davis Cup has not been His Majesty's big concern since he became a great player. He could have won the Davis Cup with Wawrinka, but he doesn't care. Nalbandian does everything he can to help Argentina, Djokovic is always there for Serbia, Roddick has always been there for the US until this year, Soderling does what he can for Sweden,.... Yeah, Nadal should learn to be more selfish than the other players.

 

[reversef]

At least he's not one of the greatest grass court players of all time, imagine how much he'd complain then!

They are already dead. The ATP killed them first. Not that I miss them a lot, but some do. And some will miss the clay courters soon if the ATP keeps killing them.

 

[TennisandMusic]

How can anyone say the scheduling is fine when it's practically a year round tour with a large number of minimum required tournaments? No other sport really functions this way. I mean football is what...September to the first week of February? Tennis is literally the last week of December until sometime in November.

Regardless of Nadal's foolishness in this area, the schedule really is atrocious.

 

[Leonidas]

Nadal played Monte Carlo (non mandatory), entered Barcelona (also non mandatory) starting the next week, withdraws from Barcelona and blames his withdrawal on the poorly structured tournament schedule.



Yes Rafa, it is poorly structured if you intend to play every event, every week, even when you don't have to.

Sorry if I sound angry but it really bothers me how much he and other players complain about the schedule while simultaneously playing non mandatory events and not taking responsibility for setting their own schedule.

http://tennis.com/articles/templates/news.aspx?articleid=5009&zoneid=4

NO man, the tour is bad structured because, even if he skips barcelona, he has to play at least every two weeks (Montecarlo, rome , madrid and FO) and then grass season without much rest. I don´t care if Montecarlo is not mandatory, there are 1000 points at stake and Rafa is a clay court specialist so should be able to play it, right?Those are all Masters 1000, so he should be able to play all the Masters 1000 on his best surface. For example, If you´re a hard courter,you have IW, Miami, a few moths later you have Canada open, then cincy, a few months later Shangai, Paris. There are many more HC masters series and you can play all of them rested since they are not in a row, do you understand now? The calendar is made by americans and it favours Hard courters, if One doesn´t see that it means he´s blind

 

[aphex]

NO man, the tour is bad structured because, even if he skips barcelona, he has to play at least every two weeks (Montecarlo, rome , madrid and FO) and then grass season without much rest. I don´t care if Montecarlo is not mandatory, there are 1000 points at stake and Rafa is a clay court specialist so should be able to play it, right?Those are all Masters 1000, so he should be able to play all the Masters 1000 on his best surface. For example, If you´re a hard courter,you have IW, Miami, a few moths later you have Canada open, then cincy, a few months later Shangai, Paris. There are many more HC masters series and you can play all of them rested since they are not in a row, do you understand now? The calendar is made by americans and it favours Hard courters, if One doesn´t see that it means he´s blind

what??????? he actually has to play tennis????????

obviously *******s made up the schedule.

 

[OrangeOne]

NO man, the tour is bad structured because, even if he skips barcelona, he has to play at least every two weeks (Montecarlo, rome , madrid and FO) and then grass season without much rest. I don´t care if Montecarlo is not mandatory, there are 1000 points at stake and Rafa is a clay court specialist so should be able to play it, right?Those are all Masters 1000, so he should be able to play all the Masters 1000 on his best surface. For example, If you´re a hard courter,you have IW, Miami, a few moths later you have Canada open, then cincy, a few months later Shangai, Paris. There are many more HC masters series and you can play all of them rested since they are not in a row, do you understand now? The calendar is made by americans and it favours Hard courters, if One doesn´t see that it means he´s blind

Yes, and look at all of those grass masters.

Oh, wait, there are none?

HCourts are the easiest to build and maintain, hence the predominance of them on the tour. Clay is next on the difficult scale, with grass being the most costly to maintain at a pro level....

And hang on, he has to play at least every two weeks? Why is it in past years Nadal fans would rave about how he won everything and anything and had a streak to scream about from the rooftops, and yet now, it's something to complain about. From a sports-performance angle, there's an argument that says that peaking for a shorter timeframe at the highest level is easier than peaking multiple times in a medium period.

 

[Leonidas]

Probably right, this is Nadal's chance to rack up points and at the same time give the home crowd what they want.
I can't blame him really, it must be thrilling for him to be able to give his home crowd a good showing.
It's a tough decision, nothing is guaranteed for the next year or ever.

Of course, in Barcelona they love him. IN fact most of the good tennis fans (US Open, AO, WB) love him. Only the stupid parisians are hostile, so Nadal is human and loves winning on clay in front of nice people. He always says in spanish newspapers that he loves how people at WB treat him and respect him, as well as in the US open and AO. He´s not only comfortable in Spain

 

[Leonidas]

Yes, and look at all of those grass masters.

Oh, wait, there are none?

HCourts are the easiest to build and maintain, hence the predominance of them on the tour. Clay is next on the difficult scale, with grass being the most costly to maintain at a pro level....

You´re right, they are the easiest to take care of...I know there are no grass Masters 1000, but I wasn´t discussing about that, Im just saying that the calendar is wrong and bad structured. To me, there should be 1 Masters 1000 on grass at least. Since there are fewer grass tournaments and clay tournaments to play, at least they should allow the players to rest so that they can play all of them, doesn´t it sound fair?

 

[OrangeOne]

I know there are no grass Masters 1000, so what? I´m not discussing about that, Im just saying that the calendar is wrong and bad structured. To me, there should be 1 Masters 1000 on grass at least. Since there are fewer grass tournaments and clay torunaments to play, at least they should allow the players to rest so that they can play all of them, doesn´t it sound fair?

See my edited post above, you replied while i was making a significant edit.