‘I Understand the Other Part of the Business’- Rafael Nadal Wants French Open to Seek Balance When Scheduling Late Night Matches

Rafael Nadal, the Spanish tennis ace and 21-time Grand Slam champion, found himself caught in the chains of rumors after his early exit from Rome. Nadal’s foot injury resurfaced during his fourth-round match against the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Following that, many thought that he would keep out of the French Open. While others argued that he will fail to secure a decent run in the Grand Slam just like his last tournament. However, the Spaniard has put all the rumors to sleep by standing strong in the tournament. On Tuesday he thrashed the current World No.1 Novak Djokovic to enter the final four of the event. Though the concerns have now shifted. As the match lasted till late in the night and players usually aren’t really fond of such matches. The media demanded Nadal’s views on the same.

Rafael Nadal shares his views about late night matches

Nadal addressed the matter and said, “I can’t complain because we have two days off now, but if you have only one day off like Zverev had in Madrid, he had to play the finals the next day, then is a big issue. Of course, I understand the other part of the business without a doubt that on the other hand televisions pays a lot of money to have matches that late. And then tournaments make money and then players make money.”

Read more: ‘I Don’t Need to Be Called the King of Anything’ – Rafael Nadal Says No One in His Family Calls Him ‘The King of Clay’

Thereafter he added, “So you know we need to find the right balance to make the things best way possible. But it’s true that start a match here nine in the evening playing on clay best of five can be very long. This kind of things can happen but that’s it.”

The former World No.1 defeated the Serb in sets of 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 7 (7)-6 (4) and will lock horns with the German, Alexander Zverev in the semifinals.

Nadal’s next opponent

Rafa will soon meet Zverev, the current World No.3 who outclassed the 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals to reach the semis. The German avenged his Madrid Open defeat by taking down the young blood in sets of 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7 (9)- 6 (7).

Speaking of Rafa’s records, against the 25-year-old. He has locked horns with Zverev nine times and has a lead of 6-3. Further, in clay, they have had five encounters out of which the 35-year-old has won four. However, even though the records favor Nadal, he isn’t in his best form. As he is fighting a pestering foot injury.

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The match will be held on Friday 3rd June at 6:15 PM at Philippe-Chatrier court. Will Rafa, who out-muscled the defending champion, be able to get the better of the runner-up of Madrid and semi-finalist of the Italian Open.