Roger Federer didn’t have any problem at losing to Rafael Nadal in Melbourne (well… he should be rather used by now), but he rightly said that the time violation rule is not applied …. According to the rule.
Roger wonders why after 33 matches they have played each other Rafa had only 2 penalty points
Federer: Why only 2 penalty points?…
“Rafa is doing a much better job today than he used to. I’m not complaining much about the time. But I think I’ve played him, what, three times. He’s gotten two point penalties over the course of our rivalry. I just think that’s not quite happening. I mean, we know how much time he used to take. I’m not complaining about so many things. But either you have rules or you don’t. If you don’t have rules, it’s fine. Everybody can do whatever they want to do.
… it’s important to enforce rules.
“I just think it’s important to enforce the rules on many levels, whatever it may be. On all the players the same way. Don’t give me or Djokovic a free pass just because of who we are. I think we should all be judged the same way. Not just a guy on Court 16 because the guy had a brutal rally, you have to give him a time violation just because you can. On center court, they’re always going to be afraid, the umpires, to take those decisions. I just like to challenge them a little bit. I just hope they do their job correctly. If they don’t, what are you going to do? Sit and watch. Sometimes you just got to say things. I didn’t lose the match because of that. It didn’t bother me. I just felt I had to mention something.”
Well… he is right, rules are there to be followed, otherwise why bother having that rule.
