Rafa Nadal uncle calls for ‘punishments’ of ‘reprehensible behaviour’ of Daniil Medvedev
Rafa Nadal’s uncle Toni has called for “sporting punishments” to be applied to the “increasingly common occurrence of tennis players breaking their rackets on the court.”
You will not have to watch tennis long to see a player, in particular a male one, destroy their expensive rackets on the court as the match does not go their way but Uncle Toni wants to see it outlawed and asked tennis organisers to introduce more severe punishments for such outbursts.
“I believe the time has come for tennis leaders to consider applying sporting punishments to the increasingly common occurrence of tennis players breaking their rackets on the court,” Nadal wrote for El Pais.
“And also to consider why this type of reprehensible behaviour occurs more frequently in our sport than in other disciplines.
“I have never seen a ping-pong player break a racket, and very rarely have I seen a golfer punish their club after making a mistake.”
The cause of Nadal’s complaints was the actions of Daniil Medvedev after he lost his head during his match against Benjamin Bonzi at the US Open.
A photographer walking onto the court prompted chair umpire Greg Allensworth to give Bonzi another first serve at which point Medvedev exploded, talking into the umpire’s microphone and criticising the official’s professionalism.
“He wants to go home, guys. He doesn’t like to be here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour,” Medvedev could be heard shouting to the umpire and fans.
Nadal criticised the Russian for his inability to control his behaviour at times on the court.
“I am surprised that a player of Medvedev’s stature is unable to calm his nerves and is willing to project this image of himself, and also that the heavy financial penalties subsequently imposed on him have failed to eradicate his behaviour,” Nadal said.
“In the case of tennis, I believe that the combination of youth, stress and the feeling of lack of control caused by the extreme speed at which the ball travels today triggers a frustration that tennis players are increasingly unable to control.
“And finally, we must take into account a fact that is as uncontrollable as it is discouraging: the enormous impact and approval that unedifying behaviour has, which is most widely reproduced on social media and, unfortunately, widely approved.”
Despite his aggressive play style, Rafa Nadal has never actually broken a racket on the court with Toni once telling him “If you throw a racket, I’m no longer your coach.”
Instead, the closest he came was during a 2022 US Open match where he was seen hitting himself, rather than floor, with the racket after a lost point.
Read next: Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz: Who is in pole position for No 1 ranking at US Open?
