Rafael Nadal may be Spanish and the King of Clay, but he is none too happy about this week’s clay court Masters event in Madrid. The Age recently provided the full laundry list of Nadal’s complaints (click here for the original article):
- On the altitude: “(It’s) a serious problem so close to Paris. It would be better if Rome were the last event before Paris since the altitudes are similar.”
- On the hype of Madrid becoming the 5th Major: “There are four Grand Slams, not five.”
- On the brand-spanking-new, multi-million euro “Magic Box” complex: “The facilities here are good, but things are a little disorderly. . .I trained on Friday and had a lot of bad bounces on the courts.”
- On the tournament’s experimentation with sponsor-friendly blue clay: “Orange is the perfect colour, I’m totally against blue. . .The colour is historical, clay is red, not blue. Tennis not only is show-business, it has more value than that – including history and tradition.”
I believe these comments were translated from Spanish, which would explain the fluency of Nadal’s complaints. He may be a humble guy, but Rafa’s not shy about speaking up (click here.)
Nadal could also be feeling a tad fatigued after winning three clay tournaments in three weeks: Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome. He hinted earlier in the year that Madrid was a “maybe” on his schedule – so the tournament should be grateful he even showed up.
Nadal has Novak Djokovic in his half of the Mutua Madrilena draw this week. Roger Federer and Andy Murray are the top seeds on the other side.
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