Roger Federer has just pulled out from the Internazionali d’Italia because of a leg injury and he wasn’t really impressed with the organization also because he maintains that he started to have physical problems for 1 specific thing.
How Federer (probably) got hurt
During the press conference in Rome, Roger vented his frustration about pushing the players to play despite the lines are clearly wet. The Swiss commented
“I don’t quite understand how players just go with it. They water the court, call time, players kind of check the lines. They’re like, Okay, I guess we can play.
The lines are wet. Wet lines means you slide. When I slid, caught myself, I did hurt my toe for like two games. My leg also was hurting a little bit. I don’t know. I just don’t understand. They don’t make us play because Carlos told me, You don’t have to play. I told him, Why did you call time? You make us stand there and feel the pressure from 10,000 people and live audience.
The player will always cave at the end, say, I guess I have to play Can’t wait. It’s going to take five minutes basically. That’s what it’s going to take until the lines are dry.
I don’t think we should play with wet lines. Nobody wants an injured player because of something silly like this just to keep the match going. That’s why I thought it was great what the ball kids did, to dry the lines. It’s quickly done. I know it’s a bit of a pain to do it.
It’s for the safety of the players.”
More about Federer against the wet lines.
“That’s just what I was referring to. ‘How about just we sit here and then you call us rather than calling us and I have to make the call’ I’ll just keep playing because that’s what you do by looking at the line for the fifth time, still seeing that it’s wet. I don’t know. I can’t go sit down again. The show must go on.
That’s really what it was about. I’m amazed how the players are, ‘Okay, we’ll play with wet lines. It’s been going on like this for years. I’ve always thought it’s dangerous with wet lines.'”
