Nadal Unmasks Rift with Federer
Federer, a 30-year-old with a record 16 Grand Slam singles titles, is president of the A.T.P. Player Council. Nadal, a 25-year-old with 10 major singles titles, is vice president. Their relationship, which has long been mutually respectful despite their epic rivalry, has established the collegial tone for the men’s game as a whole.
But Federer and Nadal have disagreed on multiple fronts lately.
Nadal supported Richard Krajicek, the former Wimbledon champion, for the top A.T.P. post while Federer wanted a more experienced businessman. Nadal supports a shift to a two-year ranking system in the interest of protecting players from the effects of injuries, while Federer continues to back the existing one-year system, arguing that it represents tradition and also allows emerging players a better chance to break through.
The two stars had a private discussion in London in November during the World Tour Finals in which Federer said they cleared the air. But some clouds remain, and though Federer said, without naming names, in a recent interview that he preferred that players keep their criticism of the sport private and focus on working for change behind the scenes, Nadal disagreed when asked on Sunday.
“It’s very easy for him. ‘I say nothing, everything’s positive, I stay a gentleman and the others can burn themselves,”’ Nadal said of Federer. “Each of us has our opinion. Each of us is free to have a different vision of things that need to be improved on the tour. I also like the tour. It seems that we have a fantastic tour and much better than the majority of other sports. But that doesn’t mean that it could not be better and that things should be changed.”
Thanks to Butch for the alert.
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About the shorter season and the proposed two-year ranking system: Naturally Nadal, being injury-prone, would prefer this while The Fed, whose playing style is far less injurious, would disagree. As for the business aspect, Nadal is Spanish while Federer is Swiss (excuse the generalization).
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
January 16th, 2012 at 12:34
Nadull keeps on complaining about the ATP’s punishing season and how it destroys his poor knees, and yet, he still chooses to load his schedule with non-mandatory events, and spend the off-season raking money by playing pointless exhibitions. He knows very well that his style of play requires him to grind for three hours just to dispatch an early-round scrub, so it’s his job to manage his own schedule smartly.
I wonder how Nadull would feel if the ATP instead reverted to using lighter tennis balls and lightning quick courts to shorten taxing rallies and points? Would he be proposing this two-year ranking scheme during the time he was trying to crack the top five; trying to overtake Federer for the No. 1 position? Ha!
Anyway, here’s what Federer’s been saying in the past:
“I have always tried to make sure people realise that there are many players who are playing tennis and it’s not just the top guys. There are other players who don’t win every week and want the tournaments and need the jobs.”
http://www.thenational.ae/sport/tennis/roger-federer-sticks-to-schedule-while-fellow-tennis-rivals-complain
Djokovic’s response from his recent AO presser:
“It is what it is. It’s the same for all of the top players, especially the ones who are playing at the World Tour Finals in London and the Davis Cup as well. Obviously the schedule is like that. You have to adjust to it and you have to take the best out of it.
To be honest, I even felt that I had quite a lot of time in the offseason comparing to the last two years. But, you know, in 2012, for the first time after a long time we’re going to have two weeks shorter season, which is going to give us more time to I guess rest and prepare better.”
January 16th, 2012 at 21:32
This is heartbreaking.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/01/16/12/davydenko-disappears-australian-open-outback