Rafael Nadal had to battle with many things in his match against Nishikori. First the Japanese was playing at his best, second Nadal’s blisters on his left hand, third the umpire that was picking on him for time violations.
Apparently the feeling between Rafa and the umpire wasn’t that great has the world no.1 has been also warned for communicating with his coach (Uncle Toni) during the match.
Rafa: The time was not appropriate…
The world no.1 was definitely unhappy with what has happened to comment “The negative thing in my opinion is not the warning. The negative thing is the moment, 4 -all, deuce. You can choose another moment to do it, not that one. Another thing is she didn’t advise me before the second warning that I was still going slow,”
… we need umpires who understand tennis…
“The word is not rules or not rules. The word is understand the game.
“That’s all. We need referees who understand the game. The rules cannot go against the good show. That’s all.
“If you are playing with 40 degrees, you cannot expect to have 20 seconds recover, 25 seconds recover. If you are playing crazy rallies, you cannot have 25 seconds recovery because then you will not have more rallies because the players cannot have it.
“I accept the rules. Sometimes I am wrong. Sometimes I am too slow and I accept that. I respect the decision of the referee even if I am not happy for that, because it was not the right moment to do it, in my opinion, before an advice. But she did. That’s all.
…I am going to try to be quicker
“I going to try to go quicker for the future. But is important to have people on the chair that really understand the game and people who manage this sport who understand the game, and that’s it.
Rafa will play his next match at the Austrlian Open against Grigor Dimitrov.
