“Aggressive surface for the body”
Asked if he wanted less hard court and more clay and grass in his career, Nadal said he kept quiet at the time because people would think he was protecting his interests on clay, “or even on grass, which I think is my second best surface.”
In tennis, we mostly play on a very, let’s say, aggressive surface for the body and joints.”
Rafael Nadal
His own body bears the marks. He has played most of his career with chronic pain in his left leg, has had hip problems and had surgery on his right hand about a year ago, after which he said he “couldn’t do much” for four months.
Two year rating like golf
Nadal also renewed his call for tennis to follow golf and switch to a portable ranking based on two years’ worth of results. The ATP and WTA rankings currently count the last 52 weeks, forcing players to defend their points each season.
The two-year system, he said, would “give players a little more freedom to make better decisions, and at the same time, when you get injured, you have more time to recover” without seeing their rankings collapse.
Two-week Masters 1000s, “wrong”
He also joined many current players in criticizing the two-week extension of most Masters 1000 tournaments, calling it a “mistake”. The longer format has left fewer windows for rest in an already crowded calendar.
Nadal himself is carefully preparing for his return to the Las Vegas court, his first appearance in the United States since retirement. “I have to go one step at a time,” he said. “Because if I want to avoid injury, the old body takes time and patience.”