Nadal critical of French Open organisers
Rafael Nadal will hope his scheduling problems do not prove too much of a hindrance when he returns to Roland Garros today for his third-round match against Fabio Fognini.
The seven-time French Open champion was unable to play his second-round contest against Martin Klizan until yesterday because of rain, and struggled, dropping the first set for a second consecutive match before fighting back to win in four.
Afterwards, Nadal criticised tournament organisers for scheduling him later than Fognini on Wednesday, meaning the Italian was able to complete his match and had yesterday off.
He said: “I think everybody knows in this room that the schedule of (Wednesday) was wrong. That’s the real thing.
“I cannot play third after a men’s and a girl’s match when my possible opponent plays second after girls. That’s not fair. And today I was playing almost three hours on court, and my opponent was watching the TV in the locker room.
“So if you told me that’s fair, I say that’s not fair. The only thing that I can do is be positive, smile, and try to win my match and try to be ready for tomorrow.
“But that’s not the right thing. This is not right. And I hope they accept the mistake, because girls play best of three. If they have to play two days in a row, it’s not a big deal. For us it’s completely different.
“The excuse they told me was because (Fognini’s opponent Lukas) Rosol have to play doubles. I am sorry, but that’s a joke.”
The good news for Nadal, who hates cold and damp conditions, is the weather forecast for today is much better.
His match against 27th seed Fognini is third on Court Philippe Chatrier after Maria Sharapova takes on Zheng Jie and before the third round’s most eagerly awaited contest between Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov.
The Bulgarian is one of the game’s rising stars and beat world number one Djokovic in Madrid last month.
Roger Federer and Serena Williams are already through to the fourth round after straight-sets wins yesterday, with Williams dropping only six games in her first three matches.
It was the end of the road, though, for French entertainer Gael Monfils, whose wins over Tomas Berdych and Ernests Gulbis lit up the early stages of the tournament.
Monfils looked set to beat Tommy Robredo and had four match points in the fourth set but he could not take them and ran out of steam in the decider.
The Frenchman said: “He fought really well, physically speaking, and he won. It is frustrating, because I don’t like to lose matches for physical or fitness matches. But I have to admit he was stronger.”
