Melbourne, Australia — After missing a game that has long been played with such passion, Rafael Nadal had ample opportunity to reunite tennis at this Australian Open.
At the age of 35, his recent return from injury led him to the semifinals. Only two wins since defeating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s three-way tie to win his 21st Grand Slam singles title.
However, he was easily found in the defense on Tuesday after his opponent, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, said he had benefited from Nadal’s favor in the quarterfinals. -6, 3-6, 6-3, 4 hours 8 minutes.
Nadal politely rejected the accusation by the young Canadian Shapovalov. “I think he’s wrong,” Nadal said.
Shapovarov certainly didn’t help his goal by playing an edgy, error-filled game to drop the serve early in the fifth set, but Rod Laver shortly after his final. The volley, which smashed the racket into the blue hard court of the arena and did not take the defeat well, drifted greatly. That was in stark contrast to Nadal, who had never broken his racket with anger during a match in his professional career for nearly 20 years.
However, Shapovalov was disappointed by the Spanish champion Nadal, who was the first nine-year-old ball boy to meet at the Canadian Open in Montreal. Then, in the first match of 2017, he lost in Hollywood style in the same city. ..
Shapovalov, with his eyes rounded, may have once been a Spaniard, but he didn’t refrain from it on Tuesday. He complained that he was allowed more time during and after the match than Nadal was allowed between points.
After winning the first set, Nadal changed clothes and slowly left the chair after referee Carlos Bernardes called it “time.” Shapovalov took the ball and prepared to serve while he was waiting. When Nadal finally arrived on the court about 45 seconds after Bernardes’ announcement, Shapovalov approached Bernardes and said Nadal should have been punished for the delay.
Bernardes disagreed, Shapovalov returned to the baseline, and Nadal approached Bernardes again, saying he wasn’t ready yet. Bernardes replied: “You’re not ready to play because you came to talk to me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Shapovalov said he would retreat. “You guys are all rotten.”
Shapovalov, 22, did not receive a code violation for the comment, but may be fined or sanctioned by the Australian Open after further investigation. Shapovalov later apologized and said, “I think I told the wrong story.” He was involved in another exchange with Bernardes as Nadal was preparing to serve the second game of the second set, even though he was still on the serve clock for a few seconds. Nadal came to the net. Shapovalov met him there and short exchange play resumed.
“It was nothing to Rafa,” Shapovalov said. “Rafa was serving. I think the referee was looking at Rafa. The referee was looking down at me. It didn’t make sense to me.”
But Shapovalov did not complain about Nadal. After the fourth set, Nadal claimed that he had been briefly examined in court for stomach problems, but had extended the spirit of the rule by taking an extended break before the final set. A combination of medical evaluation and toilet visits.
Nadal later explained that he began to feel sick later in the second set. This was probably due to hot and humid weather and long breaks from the game. After being absent for five months due to chronic foot problems, he returned to the tour this year and was infected with Covid-19 at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi in late December. He was the sixth seeded in Melbourne and won the title in 2009.
Shapovalov quized Bernardes for a long time while waiting for Nadal to return. He said he wasn’t allowed to combine the two breaks in past tournaments. Nadal entered seven minutes after the fourth set was completed.
When asked if Nadal was given preferential treatment at a post-match press conference, Shapovalov replied, “100% he does,” and said he needed a border.
“In every other match I played, the pace was very fast as the referee was on the watch after every point,” Shapovalov said. “This was like an hour and a half, just because he was very dragged after every point after the first two sets. He was very between the set and all these. I was given a lot of time. “
The player is allowed 25 seconds between points when serving, but the chair umpire has discretion as to when to start the shot clock. When returning a serve, the player is expected to play at the “reasonable pace” of the server. This is a well-interpreted phrase in the tennis rulebook.
“I respect everything Rafa did and I think he is an incredible player,” Shapovalov said. “But there are some boundaries and some rules need to be set. It’s very frustrating for a player. It feels like you’re not just playing against a player. You’re playing against a referee. Yes, you’re playing far more. Difficult. In other words, it was a big break after the 4th set, so the momentum was lost. “
“They are legends of the game,” Shapovalov said of a star like Nadal, “but when you step on the court, it must be equal.”
Bernardes, a veteran chair umpire from Brazil, has given Nadal a time breach because it took too long to serve in the fourth set.Bernardes and Nadal Not always agreed, And Bernardes was unable to play in Nadal’s match during the 2015 cooling-off period. However, the informal ban soon ended.
Nadal rejected Shapovalov’s favor and said it was standard practice to take a little longer to change clothes and equipment after playing the set in such a sultry situation.
“I think he was really wrong,” Nadal said in Shapovalov’s Spanish. “It’s frustrating to lose a match like this. I have a lot of love for Dennis. I think he’s a good guy with lots of talent and the talent to win multiple Grand Slams. I don’t want to argue. But I think he’s wrong. He’s young and makes mistakes when he’s young. “
Nadal has tightened rules in recent seasons to make it harder to show favor to the elite and other players due to electronic calls, shot clocks between points, and stricter time limits for restroom breaks this season. I observed that it was done.
“Now there’s less room to influence anything,” Nadal said, adding that he wasn’t interested in gaining an advantage in court.
“I really believe you don’t deserve better treatment than others in court,” Nadal said. “And I really don’t want it, and I don’t feel like having it.”
Nadal was often far from his best late Tuesday match: missed some of his well-known forehand pass shots on the run with a large margin. He also had 11 double flaws, in large quantities by his standards. But he was able to come up with an ace to save breakpoints in the fifth set of opening games and work well when needed most, such as saving two more breakpoints in the third game. ..
“I was honestly physically destroyed, but my serve went well,” Nadal said. “For me, every game I won on serve was a win.”
He also won the overall victory and has a two-day recovery period before playing against 7th-seeded Matteo Berrettini or 17th-seeded Gael Monfils in the semi-finals on Friday afternoon. Nadal usually prefers to play during the day. Conditions are usually fast during the day, helping the topspin forehand penetrate the court. However, he seemed happy to play in the shade with Shapovalov.
“I’m not 21 anymore,” Nadal said tiredly in a post-match court interview.
But 21 could still be his magic number in Melbourne. There he is only two games away from defeating Thailand.
