Rafael Nadal was among the biggest names yesterday to support the ATP-WTA merger idea floated by Roger Federer. In fact, he revealed that this was something which was under discussion already between the two stars.
However, his comments from last year present a pretty contradictory picture. A reporter had asked him a question about whether he’d support the idea of a common governing body for men’s and women’s tennis. Rafael‘s reply was very different from the stand that he presented yesterday. Rafa made these comments at the post match press conference during the Australian Open 2019.
He had said that he doesn’t understand how this merger would create any sort of difference. Let’s find out why Rafa had said this.
What had Rafael Nadal said?
Rafael Nadal had displayed a great degree of ambivalence towards this idea. His comments gave an impression about repulsion towards the idea as well as a fair deal of ignorance.
“Why? I don’t know. I don’t get the point. Why is it a stronger product, I don’t know. Maybe and some people not… I don’t know, I don’t have the whole information to know if that’s a stronger product or not stronger product.”
Rafael Nadal believed that his information on the subject was not adequate.
“Who knows. You need to take an analysis. I am not the right person to answer that because I don’t have the whole information. You have to ask the tournaments, you have to ask the ATP, you have to ask the ITF, you have to ask the WTA. They have much more information than what I have.”
However, his last statements showed that he might actually have a stand against the idea. He said that any talk on men and women issues could land him in trouble. That’s why he would like to keep the thought to himself.
“Is a very sensible thing today in this world talking about men or women. We arrive to one moment that you even can’t have an opinion because anything that you say is going against you. I will not be the one to tell you anything in this moment, you know.”
Why did Nadal change his stand?
There could be multiple reasons behind Rafa changing his stand. For one, it could be simply the fact that he educated himself more on the idea and saw the sense. He started believing that a merger would be better for the revenue model of tennis.
Second reason could be the immediate problems presented by the pandemic. Right now, no one knows when tennis will restart. To put things in order immediately after the lockdown ends, tennis would need a more integrated decision making. There’s also a need to financially help the lower ranked players. Combining the financial resources of the two bodies would mean a great degree of flexibility in extending these financial resources.
There’s another theory being floated around, mainly by detratctors. These are the people who are saying that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are piggybacking on an idea that would’ve been implented in a short while anyway. According to them, the real people to be credited are Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil from the ATP Player’s council.
Whatever be the reason, no one can deny that the idea is one which is desperately needed. It will have both immediate and long term benefits for the game. It’s best to refrain from any kind of mud slinging.
