Having finished his quarter-final match at 1:26am local time in cold, windy conditions, Rafa Nadal questioned French Open organisers’ decision to schedule no fewer than five matches on the same court over the day.
The 12-time Roland Garros champion was scheduled last on the main court and when he started his match the temperature was 13C with a cold wind sweeping the clay off the court, whose roof was left open throughout.
“The weather… it’s too cold to play tennis. I know football players do it all the time but they’re always moving while us tennis players, we stop, we come back, there’s the changeover,” Nadal told a news conference after his 7-6(4) 6-4 6-1 win against Italian teenager Jannik Sinner.
Play started at 0900GMT on Tuesday with a rescheduled women’s fourth-round match before a quarter-final between Nadia Pogoroska and Elina Svitolina, a men’s quarter-final between Diego Schwartzman and Dominic Thiem that lasted five hours and eight minutes and another last-eight encounter between Iga Swiatek and Martina Trevisan.
Nadal started his match at 10:36 pm local time. While such starting times are not unusual at the U.S. and Australian Opens, those tournaments are held during the summer.
This year’s French Open, however, was moved from its usual spot in the warmer May-June months because of the COVID-19 crisis.
“I really don’t know why they put five matches on the Chatrier today. That was a risk,” said the Spaniard.
“I saw immediately yesterday when they sent me the schedule because there is a chance there is a couple of long matches. That’s what happened. Little bit unlucky, of course.
“For me, I just tried to be patient, accept everything, and be in a positive shape. That’s what I did.”
Order of play on the main showcourts on the 11th day of the French Open on Wednesday (play begins at 0900 GMT, prefix number denotes seeding):
COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIER
7-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) v Laura Siegemund (Germany)
Danielle Collins (U.S.) v 4-Sofia Kenin (U.S.)
13-Andrey Rublev (Russia) v 5-Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)
1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v 17-Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain)
REUTERS