“ Why Nadal would even sign up to Rotterdam is a mystery.”

No, it’s not mystery, not at all! Think harder.
Jim Courier figured it out why Rotterdam while commenting from Melbourne, same as us, Nole fans?!

February 26th, 2021 at 1:58 am

What did Courier say? Was it the chase for the no 1 ranking?

February 26th, 2021 at 11:40 am

mat4, correct.

February 26th, 2021 at 4:35 pm

And Rafa appears to be out of the Mar 15 Acapulco event, as organizers say with the Covid revenue drop, they can’t afford Rafa’s appearance fee, which tennis.org said was between 500,000 and 1 million dollars.

Craig Tiley was interviewed in Australia with the tournament over, and revealed that Djokovic’s “list of demands for Australian governmen” was actually a leaked WhatsApp message sent only to Tiley in Djokovic’s capacity as President of the Players Council. Tiley said somebody in Djokovic’s own camp or the ATP got and leaked the message intended only for the personal dialogue between Tiley and Djokovic – which was to be open, forthright, and to include all complaints and suggestions the Players Council had, and be confidential.
And Djokovic was writing from Adelaide at the time so no face to face meeting was possible, and the message was on behalf of players stuck in quarantine.
The media got it from somebody and recast it as a list of demands on Australian government, not the Tournament director.
I hope they find who the leaker was. It happens all the time though, somebody gets a copy, sends it to a friend who is playing or on a player’s team or Tennis Australia saying Djokovic is trying to help resolve the bad situation the players were in – and that party sends it to a “media friend”. As evidence Djokovic is saying a lot of it was screwed up and he’s trying to fix things. Whereupon media twists it. Or leaks it right to media without revealing it was taken without authorization – to burn Novak.
Good deeds are often punished.

February 26th, 2021 at 8:53 pm

The only guy chasing the #1 ranking is the Faker. He chases it every single year. I suppose it makes him feel superior amid all the hate that envelopes him! Keep it Faker! People still despise you inspite everything you have achieved!
#shitebag

February 27th, 2021 at 7:54 am

Giles aka butthurt😂

February 27th, 2021 at 8:34 am

CF1,
Small correction, it wasn’t Australian government, it was Chairman Dan (state government), unfortunately!
If it was Australian government it would be much more different, to prove the point, Australia had less than one thousand deaths from Covid, more than 800 hundred are from Chairman Dan Victoria state Labor Government! and yet he is claiming success, go figure?!
Despite all draconian measures and lockdowns, that hardly have been seen anywhere in the the world, we (NSW) have double digit deaths and never closed the borders, Sydney was the only point of entry to Australia for more than 5 months, since our neighbours (Victoria and Queensland) closed their borders, not just for foreigners but for us, NSW people, bloody communists 😉
My friends, Australians who came here with Captain Cook are horrified with a fact how little power Federal government have over the State one, particularly if the Federal government is conservative and state one is Labor, like in this case.

February 27th, 2021 at 9:05 am

WB – I do not have your knowledge on how the politics differ. Thanks for informing me that it wasn’t the Fed Government , but the Socialist labor regional gov of Victoria that had fits when Djokovic’s private complaints to Tiley got leaked and was twisted by the media.
And will Nick Kyrgios walk back his nasty remarks on “Djokovic’s arrogant demands” now it is known it was a leaked WhatsApp message? Of course not. Kyrgios is just a mouth talking from a not happy place of not winning a major title from age 17 to age 26.
As for Giles, while no one thinks Rafa is done, his production and points are down from a couple years of injuries Rafa can’t seem to shake, chronic injuries many put to the punishing on his body way Rafa plays. Medvedev will take #2 if he wins Rotterdam after Rafa’s injury withdrawal. The “Twilight of the Gods” continues for the Big 3, but 2021 might be the year when it becomes clear Fed (and Serena) are done. And former Big 4 member Andy concedes he is not going to comeback again, having difficulty winning even Challenger events now. And the year when Rafa no longer is a serious contender for titles off-clay.
A great champion like Rafa may not deserve a fan like Giles, but his drop in performance while Novak appears stronger than ever in big events helps fuel Giles noted rancor.
Rafa did give Djokovic another good ass whupping at last year’s French Open, but those great moments for Rafa are becoming less and less frequent.

February 27th, 2021 at 2:31 pm

Wow, poor Giles.

February 27th, 2021 at 5:52 pm