The Madrid bandwagon roles on. Nothing positive has come out of the Rafacrew regarding this tournament since rumours abounded from Miami onwards as to whether or not he would play. Question marks have been raised regarding the impact of playing at altitude on Rafa's preparation for Roland Garros. But generally speaking, never mind the altitude but the attitude has not been that great. As withdrawing from the tournament without a legitimate, medical reason was a non starter, Rafa finally showed up in Madrid on Thursday for the start of his promotional commitments, hot on the tail of ambiguous statements on his website as to his purpose for being there.Saturday marked the first of Rafa's official press conferences ... and what a grumpy chops he was!!!
“The altitude is a serious problem so close to Paris. It would be better if Rome were the last event before Paris since the altitudes are similar,” said the top seed."
and when asked about Ion Tiriac's (the tournament organiser's) comments to position Madrid as the 5th slam Rafa's comments were brutally frank:-
“There are four Grand Slams, not five,” said Nadal. “Madrid is a great venue but tradition says there are only four majors. Madrid is great - but so are Rome and Monte Carlo.”
And don't even get him started on Tiriac's (barmy, IMO) idea to change the colour of clay to blue:-
“Orange is the perfect colour, I’m totally against blue,” said the world number one. “The colour is historical, clay is red, not blue. Tennis not only is show-business, it has more value than that including history and tradition. Some things should just remain the same,” said the Spaniard.
Wooooooooo ... but lets remember who we're dealing with here. Rafa is a traditional boy, brought up playing in a local club and "club" tennis is of value to him. It is my view that April to July represents Rafa's favourite period of the tennis calendar not only because its on his "better" surfaces of clay, and indeed, grass - but because he plays in the traditional old clubs of Monte Carlo, a particular favourite in Barcelona, Rome, Roland Garros and finally - Wimbledon.
To mess with this tradition is an anathema to him ... hence the "showbiz" comment, akin more to the noise and chaos to be found in New York and Melbourne. He is a young man of today's era, but behind the pirate pants and bandana, there always remained a man dressed values, respectful of tradition, tennis history and the greats that have played within it.
Beyond his irritation, one of Rafa's closing statements has relevance:-
“I have time to adapt to the environment. With the altitude it’s a little more difficult to control the ball and opponents can do more damage, but the conditions are equal for all.”
Indeed Rafa. If he overcomes his irritation, his obvious display of not wanting to be there and survives the early rounds, then maybe that natural competitor will kick in and his desire to win prevails ... or that clay quintuple may very well be out the window.
Indeed Rafa. If he overcomes his irritation, his obvious display of not wanting to be there and survives the early rounds, then maybe that natural competitor will kick in and his desire to win prevails ... or that clay quintuple may very well be out the window.
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