By Chris Oddo | Thursday, May 8, 2014

 

Rafael Nadal thinks that ATP umpires should look at more then the clock when they are handing out time violation warnings.

Photo Source: Mutua Madrid Open

After his second-round 6-1, 6-0 victory over Juan Monaco on Wednesday, Rafael Nadal revisited one of his favorite pet peeves with the press. The 13-time Grand Slam champion discussed the time violation warning that was assessed to Juan Monaco during the first set, a warning that Monaco vehemently argued against with umpire Carlos Bernardes, both after the point and between sets of the match.

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Monaco's beef was that Bernardes and other umpires should be more interpretive with the rule, and allow players a little more leeway after grueling points. The 30-year-old had just sprinted the length of the baseline three times before finally surrendering a point to Nadal, which gave the Spaniard a look at a break point to go up 5-1. Was it bad timing for Bernardes to hand out the warning at this juncture, thus breaking the Argentine's concentration at a point where the match was about to slip away from him (it did—he didn't manage another game)? Was it unfair that Monaco wasn't given a little extra time to catch his breath after a few lung-busting wind sprints?

Rafael Nadal thinks it was.

“I understand that Juan was getting angry when he had a warning after a long point,” Nadal sympathized. “He was running from one side to another. He needs to recover to continue giving a good performance. That's what happens. That's my feeling.”

Since the ATP started to enforce the time violation rules more strictly in 2013, Nadal has always urged that the umpires use a little artistic license in their judgment when handing out their warnings.

“I already told you last year when this rule came into the game and it was a little more strict, what I do is try to adapt myself and play,” he said. “I just do what they say. But my opinion is different to what we have out there.”

He added: “You know, after all, it seems that the ones that rule here don't want to see what people like to see. People like to see that the points are fights and they have long rallies. I'm not making things up. I just see what people applaud out there. People rarely applaud an ace; people don't really applaud a serve. People applaud normally long rallies. That's what they like.

“The points where the abilities are there, where you're suffering, that's what people like. The points that normally we face the limits, that's what people like to see. It seems that those up there that are ruling don't like that. They're looking at a game where you don't have to think, where you have to play ping-pong really fast, one shot after another one. I think that's not the sport.”