Andy Roddick explains why Rafael Nadal ‘gets the benefit of the doubt’

Andy Roddick says he has no problem with Rafael Nadal’s decision to withdraw from the Indian Wells Open despite playing in an exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz in the lead-up to the tournament.

Having missed the Australian Open and Qatar Open after suffering a muscle injury during his long-awaited comeback event in Brisbane in January, Nadal was next scheduled to play at the Indian Wells Open.

The 22-time Grand Slam winner had an extended stay in California as he flew early to the United States to also prepare for his Netflix Slam match-up against Alcaraz.

The Alcaraz match took place on March 3 with the 20-year-old winning the encounter 3-6, 6-4 (14-12) and Nadal was due to make his long-awaited ATP Tour return on March 7 at Indian Wells.

However, he announced his withdrawal from the event hours before his match against Milos Raonic stating on social media: “I have been working hard and practicing and you all know I took a test this weekend but I don’t find myself ready to play at the highest level at such an important event.

“It is not an easy decision, it’s a tough one as a matter of fact but I can’t lie to myself and lie to the thousands of fans.”

READ MORE: Jim Courier weighs in on Rafael Nadal’s Indian Wells withdrawal amid retirement fears

Some fans questioned his decision to play in an exhibition event if he was not ready for top-level tennis, but former world No 1 Roddick revealed why it made sense.

“I was in Vegas, able to see him play the exhibition – the Netflix Slam – with Carlos Alcaraz. It’s not as if he pitched up to Vegas all of a sudden,” he said on the Served With Andy Roddick podcast.

“He was in Palm Springs for a week before that, not because he cared about playing in the exhibition, it’s because he cared about playing in Palm Springs.

“Got there, was getting used to the surface, trying to go through his paces properly. Because he played in an exhibition, it doesn’t mean he is ready to go. Is he gonna go rip his body apart if his goal is to win one match at Indian Wells?

“No, every single decision that he has made from this point forward, and probably for the last year and a half – maybe that is a slight stretch, but 15 months – has been let’s work backwards from the possibility of playing Roland Garros.

“That didn’t work out last year, we didn’t see him until the New Year started, we didn’t see him until January, he wanted to get some match reps in not because he thought he could win the Australian Open, great if he finds something, but because he wants to work backwards from the French Open.

“An exo is very different … these guys put on a great show in Vegas, they did everything they had to do to make it entertaining, but that is very different than going through the best players on earth on a stickier surface.

“Because you can play two sets against someone you are friendly with when you know they are compromised too doesn’t mean they are apples to apples. I think it is dumb to treat it that way.

“Rafa gets the benefit of the doubt, he didn’t just come over for an exhibition. He gets the benefit of the doubt, he is not going to say ‘I am not playing Indian Wells if he’s not’.

“It would have been a perfectly acceptable explanation to say ‘Hey I don’t know if I can play six or seven matches on a gritty hard court right now, but I can play a couple of sets indoors and I look forward to playing the Netflix Slam’.

“No one would have cared, that’s rational so I don’t know why all of a sudden we are up in arms about that right now.”