Rafael Nadal has returned to demand a change in the surface of the Masters “to benefit all players “, according to his own statements.

One might ask who are exactly “all players “. First, it’s a tournament restricted to the best 8 of the season. And it is difficult to imagine other top players, apart from him, claiming a Masters on clay. It would not be the case of Djokovic, Federer or Murray, for example, or other classified in recent years. David Ferrer, the only one that could potentially join Nadal in his claim, has obtained excellent results in the tournament and has not ever insisted on the issue.

Therefore, it´s deduced that when the manacori speaks about “all players” in fact refers to himself. To a certain point, this is understandable since Nadal, to date, has not been won in the tournament that ends the season and maybe that gap represents a blemish in his great track record.

However, that fact does not provide a pinch of reason at the request of the spanish. The Masters Cup, although it has changed location often, has been played at times outdoors and even on grass in 1974, has been developing, over time, an entity and own personality, which includes its own traditions, among which is, as could not be otherwise, the surface.

On the other hand, indoor tennis has a great tradition and importance in tennis competitions and deserves to live up to that history. And the current calendar, in what refers to big events, limited it to the Paris Masters Series and the WTF. Migrate this tournament to another surface would minimize the weight of tennis indoor in the global scope. At this point, it is pertinent to remember that Britain, France, USA or Germany indoor championships were, at the time, key dates on the tennis calendar.

Perhaps Nadal would do better adapting himself to the characteristics of the calendar and give up that vindictive tone he has used throughout his career. Especially when statements like these ones, is difficult to discern whether Nadal speaks in benefit of tennis or in his own.

Gabriel Garcia thetennisbase.com

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