Rafael Nadal has been blogging from Miami for TENNIS.com is giving insight into his training, practices, and off-court activities. But the Spaniard had a piece of advice for tennis organizer in his last post:
I have always said I like doubles and I like to play doubles. But I also think that there are some rules nowadays that make us not play as often. It is true it is easier now to play since we can get in the doubles draw with our singles ranking but there are also times that when we have an injury, or we lost in singles and don't want to stay for doubles, only we have to stay and play or we lose ranking points and prize money. Then we play with no motivation and it is kind of ridiculous. They explain that the rule is to avoid that we sign in and then we retire, but in the end I am not sure what's worst, specially for the spectators. I would redo these rules and make them better, to tell you the truth.I'm on the fence on this one. What do you think? Do you think players should lose ranking points and prize money if they pull out of doubles??
(image via tennis.com)
as much as i like rafa and respect his views, there has to be a disincentive for players to pull out of the doubles matches. if there was no repercussion for players who leave the tournament after losing in singles, doubles would have even less credibility than it does now. who wants to see the winning team get to the top with several walkovers?
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