Nadal and Roddick Say Tennis Season Too Long

Tennis stars, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick feel that the off-season is not long enough for players to rest and recover from competition. “It’s impossible to play 1st of January and finish 5th of December,” said Nadal. “It’s impossible to be here playing like what I did the last five years, playing a lot of matches and being all the time 100 per cent without problems.”

image: Zuma Press

After pointing out the fact that Federer skipped the Shanghai Masters due to fatigue, Roddick added:  “It’s ridiculous to think that you have a professional sport that doesn’t have a legitimate off-season to rest, get healthy, and then train.  I just feel sooner or later that common sense has to prevail.”

He continued: “I certainly don’t see any other sporting leagues or federations following our lead as far as not being individually represented. I don’t know that it’s up to the players to be making business decisions about the schedule. At a certain point, I wish our input would be.  It’s got to be someone’s job to figure that out, right?”

I can’t help but agree with them.  I am an avid hockey fan and there are times when I’m grateful that the players will have a few months to manage injuries, get surgeries that they’ve put off, spend time with family, rest and even give fans a break.  Hopefully, the ATP will look at Nadal and Roddick’s comments and reconsider the schedule.