Toni Nadal is not talking about a revolution, he is talking about a few centimetres. “If we do it, tennis will become, in my view, easier for amateurs and harder for professionals,” he told Euronews. His reasoning: players would have to build the rally again to win a point.
This is not his first go at the rulebook. He has spent years arguing for a professional game less built on power, he has asked more than once for the net to be lowered, and he reckons a player can now hit a winner from anywhere on the court, which was not the case before.
In the newsroom, the news landed as a personal victory. For one person only.
Right, it’s very simple: I said it back in January. Not the rackets, the net, but it’s the same file. Me, in Kitzbühel, in ’92, against a future top 10, the point had to be built, you know. In ninety per cent of cases you had to come to the net, and I’m being generous.
Last week, at the Léopold clubhouse bar, he was explaining that equipment had never changed anything in tennis and that it was all between the ears. We reminded him. Toni Nadal, uncle of Rafael Nadal, was speaking to Euronews; his comments were picked up on Sunday at 1.13pm by We Love Tennis.
Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said. I’m clarifying. Equipment changes nothing when you have a real one-handed backhand. It changes everything when you don’t. Toni Nadal, him, they interview. Me, nobody calls, and that is exactly what I’ve been repeating for years, all right?
It’s true, we checked: We Love Tennis.
