By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday, August 27, 2022
Rafael Nadal informed reporters that he’s saddened by the absence of his rival Novak Djokovic on the 2022 US Open.
“From my private perspective, it is extremely unhappy information,” Nadal mentioned. “It is at all times a disgrace when the perfect gamers of the world aren’t in a position to play a event due to accidents or due to completely different causes.
“On this case, not having top-of-the-line gamers within the historical past within the draw of Grand Slam is at all times an essential miss, no?”
Nadal, who has missed his share of Grand Slam attracts for varied causes, together with the final two stagings of the US Open, says it isn’t solely the followers and the event that get cheated. It’s also the gamers, who need to have the perfect discipline potential at a Grand Slam.
“Powerful for the followers, robust for the event,” Nadal mentioned. “For my part, robust for the gamers, too, as a result of we need to have the perfect discipline potential.”
However Nadal hammered residence a well-known theme on the finish of his remarks: the game is greater than any single participant.
“However, I repeat what I mentioned loads of occasions: the game in some methods is greater than any participant,” he mentioned. “I missed a variety of essential occasions in my tennis profession due to accidents, indisputably. Final yr I used to be not right here. Two years in the past I used to be not right here. The event continues. The world of tennis retains going.
“Even when it’s not excellent news for everybody, the world continues and the tennis will proceed after me, after Novak, after Roger.”
Temper figuring out the US Open begins in two sleeps 😃 pic.twitter.com/Np7ulzY47U
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 27, 2022
Recognizing that reality couldn’t assist Nadal from dwelling on the difficulties that Djokovic has confronted in 2022, a yr that has seen him miss two majors as a consequence of his choice to stay unvaccinated and the gradual unraveling of strict Covid-19 laws throughout the globe.
“Unquestionably, Novak is without doubt one of the most essential gamers of the final 20 years, the historical past of our sport. In a private manner I really feel sorry for him that he isn’t in a position to journey right here,” Nadal mentioned.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev agrees with Nadal. The highest seed additionally missed a serious in 2022 when Wimbledon banned all Russian and Belarusian gamers from competing as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I want he would play right here,” Medvedev mentioned. “We noticed it in Wimbledon. He did not play many tournaments this yr. He got here there, he received. He is such a champion. The rivalry towards Rafa is admittedly I really feel like heating up in a manner. 22, 21, a joke of a quantity.
“It is a pity he isn’t right here. It will be a fantastic story I feel for tennis. Not solely tennis-wise, however it’s not us tennis gamers, it is American authorities rule. Utterly comprehensible additionally.”
Photograph credit score: Christopher Levy
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