John McEnroe dismisses Nadal and teammates’ Australian Open complaint – ‘Nothing’ | tennis | sports
Rafael Nadal has shared his concerns about the balls used at this year’s Australian Open – which John McEnroe rejected. Before the start of the first major tournament of the year, the Spaniard claimed that he was unable to generate the amount of spin he would like when using the new Dunlop balls, and that they are better suited to players who like to hit the ball flat.
they say [it] “It’s the same, but the quality of the ball is worse, no doubt,” Nadal said. In shooting. But I need to live with it. I think I’ve practiced the ball enough to be ready for it.”
The likes of 2014 Australian Open champions Stan Wawrinka and Ossie’s John Millman agreed with Nadal’s view, but McEnroe, a former semi-finalist at the event, shared a different view. “For me, there is much ado about pretty much nothing. When you were a player, you worried or worried about pretty much everything,” said the American. Eurosport.
“Maybe the tension isn’t right on my racket, the balls, they get really heavy. Yeah, of course the balls get heavy after the way those guys and girls hit them. I threw this the other day, so how about we bring in rackets with different tensions, so after three or four games if The balls are heavier or you think they are getting heavier, use a frame with threads that are a bit looser.
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“Players in general are incredible at making adjustments. I think that’s one of the things that tennis players do better than almost anyone in any sport. These things are equally true of tennis players. In the United States, when people are stressed and nervous about what they’re doing What they do in the tournament and get close to it, everything seems to be fine.
“I think you’ll see now that at the end of the first week, you won’t hear much talk about balls anymore.” McEnroe has also expressed his thoughts regarding Nadal’s future, after suggesting he might retire soon.
The Spaniard fell 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in a second round defeat to American Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open – his first exit at Melbourne Park since his opening round loss to Fernando Verdasco in 2016. He suffered from injury. For the past six months and this time a groin problem has hampered his chances of playing his best tennis.
Nadal will spend the next two months on the bench with a Grade 2 cramp, and despite winning two Grand Slam titles in 2022, rumors of his imminent retirement have surfaced again. “Rafa, from what I’ve heard, wants to continue playing,” McEnroe told Eurosport.
do not miss
“You know, he loves competition, he loves process, he loves sports and we love him for that. But if the body isn’t holding up and he feels like he can’t get to the kind of healthy level that he needs to, to win the majors, then I think he’ll quit.” According to the 63-year-old McEnroe, the record 22-time Grand Slam winner will aim to be fully fit for the clay court season that culminates in his French Open title defense in May.
The question is when is this? The seven-time Grand Slam winner, who is a left fielder, added: “It really depends on how the body tolerates it, and obviously he used to do so well that if he didn’t see results for a fixed period of time, I would expect him to stop playing at that time.
“I think he’s going to wait because, if you remember last year when he went to Indian Wells, he got injured there and then missed the early part of the clay season. So I think he’d prefer to kind of start with the clay season. If you’re part of that team, Especially if you’re not quite sure how your hip will react, kind of build on his conditioning and confidence on his favorite serve and then try to peak at the French Open. So that would be what I think at the moment.”