Rafael Nadal: Why did the Spaniard not want to play at Roland Garros at night and the organization did not listen to him?

Rafael Nadal will play today the quarterfinals against Novak Djokovic, an advanced final of the French Grand Slam. The Spaniard who a few days ago won a tough match against Felix Auger-Aliassimedeclared his preference for playing games in the morning, since the humidity and cold of the Parisian capital could affect his game.

“The match with Djokovic may be my last here. I know Roland Garros by day and I would prefer to play by day.” affirmed the tennis player in the post-match press conference with Auger-Aliassime. It was not the first time that the one from Mallorca referred to the scheduled times of the meetings in the French tournament.

After his second-round win against Corentin Moutet In the night session of the tournament, Rafa made it clear that he disliked playing at night. “I don’t like night sessions on clay. I’m very light, I don’t like to play on clay at night, because the humidity is higher, the ball is slower and it can be very heavy especially when it’s cold. It causes that there is a great difference in the game day and night on earth”.

For its part, Djokovic He did not want to delve into this subject when he was consulted about his rival’s statements. However, he made it clear that it depends on who you play with, it is not convenient to play day or night but that he understands that tennis players have no influence on such decisions. “I will only say that my request would be the opposite of Rafa”, commented.

The third party in this story was the so-called heir to Spanish tennis, Carlos Alcarazwho was also in the quarterfinals, had been playing his two games in the night shift and did not look favorably on playing a third. “It would not seem fair to me, here we are going to say things. I’ve already played twice on the night shift. I’m not saying that it bothers me to play but you have less time to rest and everything ends very late”. said the man from El Palmar after his victory against Karen Khachanov in the last meeting on Sunday.

Finally the decision was left in the hands of the new director of the tournament Amélie Mauresmo and television rights. To avoid questions about it, the press conference prior to the matches was suspended after announcing the decision made. Alcaraz is already playing against Zverev, in the day shift. While Nadal and Djokovic await the end of this match to start their match at night, which can be seen on ESPN from 1:45 pm (Peruvian time).