It's billed as the "Greatest Road Trip In Sports" but reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal believes the U.S. Open Series — and hard-court tennis in general — is a path paved with pain provoking injuries among players.
In the aftermath of his 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of Florent Serra in Cincinnati last night — his 30th consecutive victory — the World No. 2 pointed a finger at ATP management for the number of hard court events on the schedule.
Six of the nine ATP Masters Series events — Indian Wells, Miami, Canada, Cincinnati, Madrid and Paris indoors — are contested on hard courts. The Tennis Masters Cup, which concludes its run in Shanghai this November, is also staged on hard courts. Three of the nine Masters Series tournaments — Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg, which is currently fighting to retain its Masters Series status through an anti-trust lawsuit filed against the ATP in a Delaware court — are contested on clay. There is no grass-court Masters Series event.
"The top management of ATP are always think(ing) about continuing playing more and more tournaments in this kind of surface," Nadal said. "I think it's not a good way, because if I look the locker room and you look in the trainers' room, everybody have problems, no? On the knees on the foot, every player, no, here (pointing to the hip). So I think it's not the good way. It's the hardest surface for the body, that's for sure."
Nadal's comments echo remarks made by his uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, to Tennis Week Editor-At-Large Richard Evans at the Australian Open in January. Toni Nadal said hard courts are creating injury issues for several players.
"It is a medical problem for everyone," Toni Nadal told Evans in Melbourne earlier this year. "What other sport asks its athletes to compete on this kind of surface? Runners run on tartan, which is cushioned. Soccer and rugby players play on grass. No one has to suffer this kind of physical hardship like tennis players."
The elder Nadal cites injury time-outs during the 2007 U.S. Open to support his point. Is this road trip turning some players into road kill?
"By the time he got to the final, Novak Djokovic was suffering from a bad back," Toni Nadal told Evans. "Knees, ankles, backs, wrists — everyone has a problem somewhere. But the ATP won't listen. They should be responsible for the future health of their players, but they do nothing."
Nadal has registered a 61-7 overall, including a 27-6 record on hard courts, this season but believes staging so many events on hard courts are "a big mistake."
"I said always same, no? That's a big mistake, in my opinion, for the tour," Nadal said. "That's one of the biggest mistakes, no? Because if you saw the players, injuries, how many injuries the players have in the last months, you know, you have to think if we are going in the good way, good direction or not.
For that reason it's happen."
