“Rafa Said It Was Disrespectful”: Patrick Mouratoglou Reiterates Rafael Nadal’s Underarm Serve Statements

One of the most ongoing debates around the French Open 2020 is regarding the underarm serves. Patrick Mouratoglou spends some time with Jenny Drummond and shares his opinions regarding the underarm service along with other issues in the ongoing Roland Garros. One of the major aspects he pointed out is the acceptance of the underarm serve by King of Clay-Rafael Nadal.

In the 2019 Wimbledon Championship, Nick Kyrgios faced the Spaniard in the second-round match. Kyrgios sneaked an underarm serve which was impossible to return for Nadal. He called the incident disrespectful and criticized the Australian player.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qio9xio8JiE]

Into the French Open 2020 and we see a change of stance from Rafael Nadal. The shot which he criticized, now he calls it a great shot to play. Quite a contradictory statement from the 12 times French Open Champion.

“Kyrgios was the one to use it. It was against Rafa Nadal who was returning from 6 meters back. So it was a smart shot. Am happy that I heard Rafa saying that he thinks it’s a good shot to play because when it happened against Kyrgios he said it was disrespectful. Rafa said, in some case, it is disrespectful, in some others it’s not. Nobody is going to judge whether its disrespectful or not. An underarm serve is an underarm serve. Its a shot like any other”, Patrick said.

Rafael Nadal and his hunt for the 20th Grand Slam

Rafael Nadal is on his quest for his 20th Grand Slam title. The coveted title will draw him equal with Roger Federer in the list of most Grand Slam wins. Out of the 19 titles he holds, 12 of them have come from the Roland Garros only. No wonder why he prefers Paris over other destinations.

Nadal has started the tournament on a positive note. Storming into the fourth round, he is yet to face a proper challenge from the other side. Anticipating the tremendous form he is in, it would require more than just a good game to bring the mighty Spaniard down.

Nadal will be up against Sebastian Korda of the United States, who is having a great tournament coming up from the qualifiers.