New season, new and old problems! Not just happy notes, like the returns to the court of Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu. Not even the good level of the matches played so far, nor the festive and joyful Oceanian public.
There are two questions that still spark discussions among players, media, insiders and fans. During the match with Jason Kubler, more precisely between the first and second sets, Rafael Nadal took advantage of a bathroom break to change his shirt and shorts, which had become unusable due to sweat.
The high humidity in Brisbane had a significant impact on the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s sweat level. On his return to the field, the Spaniard received a warning for overtime for having exceeded by a few seconds the five minutes authorized by the regulations.
Nadal, rather surprised by the decision taken by chair umpire Arnaud Gabas, asked for explanations in a calm and serene manner.
An episode which finally made the two protagonists of the story smile sincerely.
And the warning is an old companion of Nadal: a problem that he has carried with him since the start of his career. When asked about this during a press conference, Nadal explained: “I didn’t quite understand what happened.
Without criticizing anyone, I took this as a funny situation, but I need to understand the rule because I don’t know how it happens. I don’t know what has changed from the past. If I’m not mistaken, we have five minutes from the moment we arrive at the locker room.
After five minutes, I was already out of the locker room. The referee told me that he had been warned by the official four seconds after the call time. I don’t think things happened that way, I could be wrong. My feeling is that I left the locker room when the five minutes were called.
Nothing happened, it’s just an anecdote. I thought I was on time, so I was surprised.” (Below is the moment Rafael Nadal received the warning)
“Rafael Nadal came back a little late from the toilet” ????@Rafael Nadal with an unusual time overrun in Brisbane!
#BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/ELLGoQ6iez – Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 4, 2024
Warning and ball issues also in 2024
Nadal also addressed the controversial topic of changing the ball. “It was difficult to move the ball correctly towards the end of the first set: it was very heavy.
I don’t know what happens to these bullets, but they die. The situation changes with the new balloons,” said the Spanish champion. The theme of balloons was relaunched by Nick Kyrgioswho suggested that it is the basis of Novak Djokovic’s wrist injury: “The change of ball every week has finally arrived on Novak’s wrist.
The ATP really needs to do something about this. Players suffer all the time. Additionally, people who think balls aren’t a big enough factor in an athlete getting injured are ignorant. The load on a tennis player’s elbow and wrist during this season is enormous.” PTPA CEO, Ahmad Nassaralso spoke in an interview with Express UK to explain what the ATP’s next actions could be, also proposing solutions to this problem. “There will be board meetings coming up soon where they will discuss different options you might consider.
Some are heavy, others light. This destroys your shoulder and elbows. This is something that, if you run a series of fragmented tournaments, you never give any importance to. We did some research and it turns out that a high percentage of tennis balls around the world are produced in similar facilities and at the end of the process a logo is placed on them.
This means that they can continue to sell their sponsorship but we can at least have the same specifications on the playing surface. This would lead to respecting the different brands, so as not to have a negative impact on sponsorship issues in tournaments”, he said.
In short, it’s almost only January 5, 2024 and, although the tennis season has only just begun, players and tennis associations have already reported some of the first, less serious problems and those that have been dragging on for months .
Last October, in a long interview with Sportal, Djokovic shared the alarm raised by his colleagues about balls: “There is certainly a relationship between frequent injuries to the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints with balls and their modifications.
I am all for choosing one type of ball to play with in all tournaments. With Grand Slams it is different and more difficult because each of the most important tournaments in which one plays negotiates separately which sponsor to have, but this also happens in ATP branded competitions.
Everyone has the right to negotiate separately. We simply have to find a way to unite, so that in each category of the circuit we have a ball to play with, obviously depending on the surface. Sometimes this ball change occurs three times in three weeks depending on where one is playing and affects the health of the players and the joints themselves.
In this sense, I support the tennis players who are complaining and ask the ATP to find a way to resolve the problem. I have not seen any statement from the ATP regarding the players’ protests and these are things that are incomprehensible to me.
When you have top tennis players trying to communicate with you in public, you have to make a statement, go to them and say: OK, we understand, let’s sit down and talk about it. I don’t understand why there is silence. I hope they realize that there just has to be direct communication. »
