Rafael Nadal is the King of Clay and of course he wants to preserve his kingdom.
During the last few years there has been a tendency from some tournaments of switching from clay to hard courts.
This trend is coming also for practical reasons. For example Acapulco this year has switched to hard courts because the next 2 big events are the Master ATP1000 in Indian Wells and Miami (both played on hard) and tennis players do not like to switch surface so often.
With the surprises of many, the Olympic Games in Rio will also be played on hard courts and even the organization of the Argentina Open is thinking about switching to the faster surface.
Rafa: We need to keep our tradition
Nadal thinks that clay courts are good for both keeping the tradition and help players to avoid getting injuries (clay courts are “softer”) to say “Clay is a traditional surface of our sport, we need to protect that. Sport is bigger when you combine new and show events with traditional events.
We are changing more and more tournaments from clay to hard surfaces but the hard surface is more aggressive so there are more and more injuries. You can check on the tour that many players have injuries so there is something we are doing badly, the people who manage, that is not right.”
Rafa will play his next tournament in Indian Wells.
| NADAL UNHAPPY ABOUT THIS SWITCHES TO HARD COURTS |
