I can’t understand him. Last year he was delaying his return saying, “I’ll only return when i’m 100%”

now when he’s come back, he’s saying that he’s not 100%! Wow!

February 26th, 2013 at 9:31 am

NOT SURPRISED:

1- he has LONG STATED that he wants to be 100% by european clay swing.

2- He has LONG STATED that FO is his objective- that’s what he is prioritizing

IMHO, this was to be EXPECTED considering the above mentioned reasons:

He has NOTHING to gain by playing IW and MIAMI needlessly on his return after 7 long months out with a knee injury, especially considering his above mentioned goals.

As a rafa fan, I am VERY PLEASED at this decision.

I suspect the MAJORITY of his fans are.

However: i imagine OTHERS will have a real problem regarding this withdrawal(i wonder why).

February 26th, 2013 at 9:43 am

Well this was obviously going to happen and makes all the sense given the circumstances.

But I don’t really get the idea that he has nothing to gain. I mean right now, sure, but it seems like all of the Nadal fans are just up and done with these Masters. Indian Wells and Miami are two of the biggest tournaments around, right under the slams. Despite their weird location on the schedule. Dismissing them is just as bad as when Federer dismissed all the clay Masters a few years ago.

February 26th, 2013 at 9:56 am

http://www.changeovertennis.com/

@juanjo_sports

Via @Rafael_Plaza, Toni Nadal has just said on the radio that Nadal has not made the IW/MIA decision yet. So, Marca was wrong (not a rarity)

February 26th, 2013 at 10:02 am

Maybe it depends how he does in Acapulco?

February 26th, 2013 at 10:22 am

He’s gonna, he’s not, he is, he’s not, he has this, he doesn’t, he will, he won’t, he is now a righty, no he is still a lefty, its the right knee, no the left one, will the real Rafael Nadal please stand up? I pick HR.

February 26th, 2013 at 10:23 am

Too much speculation again. It does not help that Team Nadal, over the last eight months, has made quite a few bizarre statements about the state of his knees and expected comeback. Let us wait till it is officially confirmed by either of the concerned parties. I would like Rafa to skip both these tournaments and start focusing on the European clay season. I do not want him jeopardizing the clay swing even slightly. It seems unlikely that he will regain the 4th rank any time soon. Indian Wells and Miami will not serve much purpose for him at the moment. The potential risks outweigh the rewards. He will have a lot of chances to test himself against tough opponents before the French Open.

February 26th, 2013 at 10:47 am

The information given by Marca is INCORRECT!!
Toni has said on Spanish radio “It is risky to go to IW if the knee is not 100%. We’ll see ……”
“The information is not correct. Rafa has not taken a decision not to go to IW or Miami”.
The above are snippets of Toni’s interview on Spanish radio.
So, at this moment in time … .. Watch this space.

February 26th, 2013 at 11:05 am

skeezer. I can see you jumping up and down with suspense! Calm down man. Don’t wet your pants in the meantime! Jeez!!

February 26th, 2013 at 11:08 am

Just to remind everybody, Rafa has always said he will make his decision as to whether he will compete in IW/Miami AFTER Acapulco!

February 26th, 2013 at 11:21 am

I think the sooner they get rid of these two tournaments in the schedule the better. They have always been driven by money, and if the top players don’t play the money will dry up quickly – I suspect the only reason Federer is playing Indian Wells is because he’s the defending champion, but if it were up to him he’d skip both of them. They just don’t make sense, and maybe losing Nadal as well will make the ATP think twice about keeping strange tournaments on the schedule.

I also think that one day we will get to an ITF schedule that makes more sense for the majors – finally they pulled their collective heads out of…the sand, and players will get an extra week between Wimbledon and the French Open this year.

What would make real sense would be for the US Open to end on Labor Day, pushing it back a week, for Wimbledon to go another week (or two) back and give a month between it and the French Open, and also add a masters series tournament on grass – maybe Halle or Queens, and then they can be staggered, instead of coming right on top of each other, forcing each of them to make about half as much money.

The last big change that would make sense would be for the Australian Open to move to the end of February and make it an indoor major. That will cost Tennis Australia a lot of money, because the Australian summer is perfect timing for them, but they’ve moved it before, and they can move it again, no big deal. Ultimately that would eradicate the stupid tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami (good riddance) give the players a longer off-season (finally) and make the spring indoor season a little more sensible too (meh…)

February 26th, 2013 at 11:25 am

@MMT – great comment.

Queens should at least be a 500 event and these back to back Masters events are insane. The schedule is absurd and the ATP refuse to change it.

February 26th, 2013 at 11:56 am

Back to back Masters series
Indian Wells/ Miami
Madrid/Rome
Montreal/Cincy
Paris/London
The ATP are treating the players like cattle!
WTF??

February 26th, 2013 at 12:02 pm

Novak won his first match after the AO. Didn’t serve well, the rest seemed to be OK. His IO BH and FH looked good.

February 26th, 2013 at 12:36 pm

Just a quote from a blog from this very site, so I am assuming that it is authentic
“Right now I am only focusing on celebrating today’s title,” Nadal said. “I am not in a position to think too far ahead; I need to think day by day, week by week. Let’s see how my knee feels in Acapulco. We will analyse at the end of this clay swing what happened in these last three tournaments and I will see if I am ready to play in Indian Wells.”

February 26th, 2013 at 12:46 pm

Quote above was written by Tom Gainey on February 17,2013

February 26th, 2013 at 12:52 pm

“They just don’t make sense, and maybe losing Nadal as well will make the ATP think twice about keeping strange tournaments on the schedule.”

What…cause of Rafa? ha…Fedal has been participating in both these events for years….so? One is still young and injury excused. The other has earned to slow down his participation due to age. Don’t know about Miami, but IW has had GREAT top player participation, great player appreciation. It deserves a top spot on the tour!

Gee all the sudden too much Tennis? Get rid of the top Master HC on tour? How about getting rid of the dubious Clay court tournaments?? They can rest from those…..

The past generation of Tennis players are laughing at these young new guys complaining about surfaces, tournaments, ailments, schedules, etc…..heh

February 26th, 2013 at 1:00 pm

Lets change all the courts to 6″ of memory foam and Nerf tennis balls.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:07 pm

skeezer wrote: “Fedal has been participating in both these events for years….so? One is still young and injury excused. The other has earned to slow down his participation due to age.”

Well, to use your words, Rafa has ‘earned’ his right to slow down his participation due to coming back on tour after 7 months off!

Besides, you have stated unequivocally that Rafa won’t play them because he is afraid of fed, not because of rehabbing his knee.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:08 pm

The comment that rafa is afraid to play fed cracks me up for obvious reasons…LOL

February 26th, 2013 at 1:09 pm

juljo724

get your point, (re: Rafa comment earlier was a joking taunt, guess you thought otherwise ).and I did mention Rafa was excused from the event due to his injured knees ( BTW isn’t he playing today? )

….but I was referring to in this instance was the opined comment of getting rid of IW and Miami…..re read.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:13 pm

I don’t agree at all with these notions. The schedule doesn’t make sense, sure, but Indian Wells and Miami are by far the biggest events on tour outside of the slams. And they bring in a ton of revenue to the ATP, not just themselves. It’d be great if there was logic in the tennis season, but because it’s all over the world, with different nations having different summers and holidays at different times, it makes it a near impossible task to create a perfect schedule.

Are the players cattle? Um, no? These back to back events have been like this for decades. Just because Nadal, who has been injured, might skip them, doesn’t mean everyone else should. And Federer, who’s getting older is skipping only one of them, shouldn’t be looked at as the example either. And considering that this is the first year Federer has ever skipped Miami, it’s not exactly “oh well Federer clearly hates this event and is only playing IW because blah blah blah.”

No respect for tradition.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:19 pm

Thank you Ben!

February 26th, 2013 at 1:24 pm

Clearly though, one of each of these events get shafted every year because they are too close to a Slam or Finals

Indian Wells or Miami
Madrid or Rome
Cincy
Paris

February 26th, 2013 at 1:42 pm

When have Miami or Indian Wells ever been shafted?

February 26th, 2013 at 1:47 pm

I don’t recall anyone saying that if rafa skipped one or both of them, that others shouldn’t play either. That is just stupid. And because fed is skipping one, is really not that big a deal or means to start rumors that he is close to retiring or that he has something against that tourney. Players will play if they want to or can. If they don’t play, then they lose points, etc… and they have to suffer the consequences. It’s that simple. It was a huge thing for Rafa to skip the Australian Open since it is one of the four Slams, but he knew he would pay the consequences when it came to points.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:48 pm

And since the best of 5 set finals were removed, Rome and Madrid have been fine. When was the last time one of them saw a depleted field?

Even Cincinnati never suffers that much. Federer has won it a bunch of times. Nadal, while never reaching the final (which is more due to the surface) has done consistently well. Murray has won it a few times and Djokovic has made a bunch of finals.

The only one that gets seriously shafted is Paris. It suffers from a depleted field very often. So this is some serious over exaggeration.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:50 pm

As much as I like Nadal, I really can not talk anymore (or listen ) about his knees and which tournament he will play…I hope he regains his form soon (for his sake and mine…)
Back to the tennis now. Tsonga just lost the match in Dubai.Talking about being consistent… (ok, Lodra is very good, but still…).
Novak won also.Del Potro just about.Bernard Tomic out ( He said he will be in best 10 this year…aha, let me see that ).Tipsarievic out also-he is bit greedy-he has been injured since December but keeps playing tournaments.I guess hard to resist oil money).

February 26th, 2013 at 1:51 pm

I’d also like someone to post an exact, authentic quote where someone besides the bloggers on here have specifically stated that IW and Miami should be gotten rid of.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:52 pm

@Ben Pronin – Aren’t we having this discussion because Rafa is skipping both and Roger Miami?

February 26th, 2013 at 1:54 pm

I’m just responding to MMT and those who agreed with him. I doubt there’s any official thoughts to moving these events.

February 26th, 2013 at 1:55 pm

There has to be sense in moving Paris around a bit.

I’m more concerned about getting a longer grass season, it’s too short and the tournies are only 250 level.

February 26th, 2013 at 2:00 pm

Just do add to drama, I might act like I will play one of those tournaments, and pull off at the last minute, citing, an unexpected injury.

How many time do you guys fall for the same joke?

February 26th, 2013 at 2:01 pm

http://www.wltx.com/sports/tennis/article/223925/343/Nadal-camp-denies-hes-skipping-Indian-Wells-and-Miami?
Tennis X
In view of this article don’t you think you should delete/withdraw this thread?
This is all just a rumour spread by the unreliable Spanish newspaper Marca!!!

February 26th, 2013 at 2:41 pm

Tennis_Tipster,

Re: Grass……for sure agree with you there.

February 26th, 2013 at 3:22 pm

In view of this article don’t you think you should delete/withdraw this thread?
–
Why not take me at my word? Is that so hard?

February 26th, 2013 at 4:58 pm

@Ben Pronin:

“Dismissing them is just as bad as when Federer dismissed all the clay Masters a few years ago.”

What year did Fed dismiss the clay masters events?

February 26th, 2013 at 7:57 pm

In spanish the word for dirt is the same as for earth. So that’s the reason why the translator gave you “earth only”

February 26th, 2013 at 11:21 pm

I honestly don’t understand why there’s so much complaining about the scheduling of IW and Miami on the ATP calendar. These MS tournies are the first two MS on the calendar every year, approx. 2 months after the AO and 4 or more months after Bercy the previous year. So why should they be rearranged? If we consider that they are played over a period of 3 weeks, then I don’t see them as being gruelling for the players. The players have adequate time to rest between tournies.

Madrid and Rome are scheduled back to back, but there’s no complaint about the scheduling of those two tournies. I don’t understand. If for the sake of argument, IW and Miami were re-scheduled, then where should they be placed on the calendar?

There’s more participation by players at IW and Miami than there is at Rome and Madrid due to the fact that most of the players prefer HC to clay, except for the clay colurters.

Also, if as some want for there to be a grass MS, any suggestions when and where it should be played, and which MS should the grass tourney replace? Possibly MC considering that there are 3 MS tournies on clay being played in less than a month’s time? If MC were to scratched I’m sure there would be many complaints from the clay-courters and their fans. Right now, fans of clay courters and clay court players are not complaining about the close proximity of those 3 tournaments, so to be fair why the complaints about Miami and IW?

February 27th, 2013 at 1:06 am

Alok. There are SIX hard court Masters tourneys. THREE clay court Masters, one of which is non mandatory. There is clearly an imbalance here already and you would like MC to be deleted from the schedule? Why not replace one of the HC tourneys to accommodate for grass?

February 27th, 2013 at 2:45 am

skeezer said “The past generation of Tennis players are laughing at these young new guys complaining about surfaces, tournaments, ailments, schedules, etc…..heh”

Peter Fleming was talking about this very topic on Sky UK TV yesterday. He said that in his day players played about 11 tournaments a year, they chose when and where they played. He personally chose to take a vacation during the clay season because he was hopeless on clay and to lose in first rounds at clay tournaments would have drastically affected his ranking.
The past generation of tennis players did not have to play mandatory tournaments, they had much more freedom to play when and where they pleased.

February 27th, 2013 at 5:09 am

“The past generation of tennis players did not have to play mandatory tournaments, they had much more freedom to play when and where they pleased”

Really? Ask Borg if that is a true statement. He was forced to retire because he wanted to play when and where he wanted.

I only hope that Nadal does not get away with the when and where to play.

Interesting that I posted this same comment on the ATP tour official site and it was censored.

February 27th, 2013 at 7:44 am

Alok, not quite right.

Saying more players play in IW/Miami than Rome/Madrid is the same as saying more players play in the Australian Open than IW/Miami. Yeah, because the draws are bigger. Obviously more players participate when there are more slots. It has nothing to do with what they prefer.

And there are plenty of complaints about Rome/Madrid. From the players especially because Madrid is so different from Rome (and other clay events) and it’s scheduled in an inconvenient way. Also, before Madrid was the 3rd clay Masters, Hamburg was. And barely half a decade ago, all of these events had best of 5 set finals. So when Nadal and Federer played that beastly 5 setter in Rome, they pulled out of Hamburg the next day. And so we have no more best of 5 set finals at Masters events.

But playing tournaments back to back isn’t that big of a deal. Look at all the guys doing it by choice in February. The slams are 2 weeks of tennis. And the top guys usually get byes anyway, so it’s not like they’re playing 14 straight days. And it’s best of 3. Worst case scenario is you play 10 matches in 14 days. Big deal? If you’re fit enough then good for you. We’ve seen it done countless times.

I personally don’t like that Monte Carlo isn’t mandatory. It doesn’t suffer all that much, though. The most notable absence is usually Federer and only Federer. But it’s a shame because it is a great event. At least it’s still technically a Masters event.

If you wanted to move one of the events to make room for a grass Masters the obvious choice is Paris. It’s already in Europe, so it’s convenient for the players. It’s already known to be a fast court event, so no problem there. You keep Shanghai in Shanghai, which is good. And if you establish it well, move around the calendar, etc, you get rid of the depleted field problem.

But it’ll never happen. The French Open and Wimbledon won’t budge from their spots in the calendar. Especially Wimbledon.

February 27th, 2013 at 9:23 am

@max. “I only hope that Nadal does not get away with the when and where to play”.
Rafa will do what is best for him and his ailing knees and nobody can stop him. He may have to face penalties. At the end of the day it is his choice.

February 27th, 2013 at 11:28 am

The rules weren’t the same, though. Nadal might be pretty young but he’s played a ton of matches already. I think he’s close to being allowed to be picky.

February 27th, 2013 at 11:53 am

Rafa :”Asked about rumors he would not play, he replied: “The media can’t know more than I do.”

WOW, really??? Does that include tennis-x?

February 27th, 2013 at 12:45 pm

Tradition? Get the hell outta’ hear, tradition!

Indian Wells showed up on the schedule in 1974 – I’m older than this tournament. And the first 13 years of the tournament is moved around from Tuscon, Arizona to Palm Springs to Rancho Mirage and then La Quinta…then finally in 1987 to Indian Wells – not coincidentally 2 years after they started that other monstrosity in Florida.

I mean, I have clothes in my closet that are older than this tournament. They tried (blatantly) to set it up to be another major in 1985 in Boca West as a two-week, best of 5 tournament. But the players balked despite the money and the inclusion of Alan Mills (Wimbledon referee) and Ted Tinling (Director of Protocol) they started best of five only in the quarterfinals. Later they found an unused property just shy of Miami, they tried again to make it best of 5, and for a few years it looked, walked and talked like a major – except that nobody outside of the two tours and Butch Buchholz took it that serious. They couldn’t keep it going long enough to make it so, and by 1991 even the final was best of 3.

Tradition is in tournaments like Monte Carlo (1897), Rome (1930), the Canadian Open (1881), Cincinnatti (1899). Those tournaments go back (with the exception of Rome) 100 years…that’s tradition. These two tournaments are money grabs – pure and simple. And mark my words – if the top players continue to choose not to play it, no amount of invented tradition will keep them on the schedule as they are now, because at their core, they have nothing to do with tradition – they are money grabs, and nobody’s going to shell out the kind of cash they’ll need to, to watch anyone less than the biggest stars in the game.

Tradition? Oof-ah!

February 28th, 2013 at 8:21 am