By Bill Simons
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—The media day at Indian Wells is always a hoot. One superstar after another comes into the media area to do TV, sign programs and gear, and field questions from reporters who hover around tables. It’s fun, revealing, silly and free-form.
Milos Raonic talks about Impressionism, and also says he’s learned more from Swiss culture than any other. Ana Ivanovic, pretty and well-spoken, talks about how proud she is of Serb culture and claims it’s far more spontaneous than American culture. (Coulda fooled us.) But her Serbians could work a bit harder.
Aga Radwanska is asked, “What’s the state of Aga these days?” and later, when the Pole walks by a dozen or so writers listening intently to Caroline Wozniacki, she calls out, “She’s lying.” As Andy Murray is asked how many Slams he’s going to win this year, an eavesdropping Maria Sharapova jokes, “I like that question.”
But it was no joke when Rafael Nadal spoke to reporters. Look, millions love Rafa: gentleman, hunk, Grand Slam champion. Who else plays like the Spaniard, with his awesome biceps, punishing forehand and fierce ‘tude? Still, for whatever reason, our beloved Rafa and his camp tend to complain. The French fans are not fair. The season is too long. As for hard courts, well, they’re too hard. Most recently, Rafa claimed that he was being picked on by ump Carlos Bernardes for taking too long between points.
“I am not happy with him,” Rafa said, when asked about Bernardes. “He has not been fair enough the last couple of times … He’s putting more pressure [on me] than the rest of the umpires … What, for me, is not right is that you see other players breaking rackets, doing shows on court, and that’s less important that [me] being five seconds late, six seconds late. I cannot accept that, I cannot say that’s right … The rules are the rules, and the rules are for everybody, and I am a little slower than other players. But especially in Rio, [when] I finish every match it was like my hand [had] been for two hours in the jacuzzi. I had to dry my hand every time … In Rio, the conditions were extreme.”
Rafa added that he believes he gets worse treatment than other players “because I am a slower guy [between points] it’s true … but [officials act as if it’s] more important being five, six seconds late than breaking a racket. I saw in Australia a few times someone breaking a racket, doing show or saying bad words: It’s okay, nothing happens. For the image of our sport, [which is] worse—[being] five, six seconds late, or saying bad words? Breaking rackets—that’s a better example for the kids. We’re not going to penalize that, but my six seconds, yes. Okay, I am late. But things cannot happen that way. It’s not fair.”
Even more combative are Rafa’s views on Davis Cup. Six years ago he said it was important but in trouble. and now that’s come true—except for Andy Murray, few of the top players are playing this year. Asked about Davis Cup, Rafa said, “The competition has less value than before … If everything is perfect, fine. But then the ITF lies to the fans … [They say] last year was great—Roger won, Wawrinka won—but I didn’t play, Djokovic didn’t play, a lot of important players didn’t compete.” Rafa noted that because two important tennis countries—Switzerland and France—played in the 2014 final, the ITF “is saved for two more years, fine. But that’s a lie for everybody. The same thing can probably happen [again] as in 2011, when [Spain] won, but that doesn’t change that the thing is not working well … The ITF has lost a lot of time and opportunity to make things better and to create an interesting competition, a better competition … at the top level.”
All photos by Julian Finney/Getty Images Sport. More images from Media Day after the jump.
