The followers of Rafael Nadal They suffered a new blow last week after the 14-time Roland Garros champion was announced his resignation from playing in the Indian Wells Masters 1000.
“I’ve been working hard and training, and you all know I tried this weekend, but I’m not ready to play at the highest level in such an important event. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I couldn’t lie to myself and thousands of fans.“Then he explained on his Twitter account.
That resignation came just two days after playing the Netflix Slam, an exhibition match in Las Vegas played against Carlos Alcaraz, a decision that drew some criticism.
Well, recently another former number 1 has come to his defense. Is about Andy Roddick, who helped him on his podcast, ‘Served With Andy Roddick’.
“I was in Las Vegas, I was able to see him play the exhibition with Carlos Alcaraz. He didn’t suddenly go to Las Vegas. He was in Palm Springs a week before that, not because he cared about playing exhibition, but because he cared about playing in Palm Springs” he said.
“He got there, he got used to the surface, trying to adapt. Just because he played in an exhibition doesn’t mean he’s ready.. Would you destroy your body if your goal was to win a match at Indian Wells? No, every decision he makes, probably in the last year and a half, is to work with an eye on the possibility of playing Roland Garros,” he added.
“That didn’t work last year, we didn’t see it until January, he wanted to play to get a rhythm, not because he thought he could win the Australian Open, but because he wanted to start thinking about Roland Garros. “
“An exhibition is very different… these guys put on a great show in Las Vegas. “They did everything they had to do to make it entertaining, but that’s a lot different than going up against the best players on the planet on a more demanding surface.”
“Just because you can play two sets against someone you’re friends with doesn’t mean everything is fine.. I think the treatment here is silly. “Rafa has the benefit of the doubt, he didn’t come just for an exhibit.”
“It would be a perfectly acceptable explanation to say, ‘Hey, I don’t know if I can play six or seven matches on a hard court today, but I can play a few sets indoors and I hope playing Netflix Slam.’ imported, that’s rational, so I don’t know why we’re suddenly teasing each other now.” concluded Roddick.
Source: La Verdad
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