“He plays by the rules!” Alex Corretja defends Rafael Nadal over John McEnroe’s comments on preferential treatment
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Alex Corretja, John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest athletes of all time, made a good start to the 2022 US Open with a dramatic win over Rinky Hijikata defeating him in four sets in his first-round clash where he was down by a set in the start. The young Australian star looked in good form but soon the Spaniard being himself, bounced back and played some amazing shots to finally win the match. He had not much court practice before entering the US Open since he was eliminated in the first round at the Cincinnati Open after being back from his injury.
The Spaniard has been phenomenal with his performances since the beginning of the year. He went to clinch the two singles Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and the French Open which takes him in the lead position of most number of singles titles. He was about to get a hold of the calendar Grand Slam but his quarter-final match landed him getting injured following a withdrawal putting his chances to an end. He has yet another chance at winning another singles Grand Slam title since he has a 20-0 match winning streak in the Grand Slam matches this year. He will be up against the Italian Fabio Fognini in the second-round clash of the US Open.
Also Read: Rafael Nadal’s road to 23rd Grand Slam opens up after being handed an easy draw at the 2022 US Open
“I’d love to be Rafael Nadal for a minute of my life!”: Alex Corretja
Alex Corretja, the former tennis player from Spain, stood out in support of his compatriot Rafael Nadal over John McEnroe‘s criticism of having an undue advantage since he gets a kind of special treatment from the umpires over exceeding the time on the clock between serves which might be unfair for his opponents. He said ” The thing is, I’d love to be Rafa Nadal for a minute of my life – those passing shots at the end of the match. Secondly, it was a great setup for him, even Rafa was listening to the journalist like, ‘Are you serious? You’re telling me this?“
He even revealed that Nadal does not play against the rules and if the umpires have not pointed it out then he should not be blamed for such baseless allegations. He further added that “What I hate is when journalists come to you and they say ‘someone said that they said…’ Be straight. This is poor. You’ve got to be straight if you make a statement – ‘I heard from John McEnroe..’ I don’t like that. For sure Rafa is playing with the rules, but umpires have the clock so that’s it.“
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)