The West Side Tennis Club in Forrest Hills, New York, was filled with rain and drama today. No. 2 seed Rafa Nadal and fellow top players, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray, were upset about starting their matches in poor conditions at the U.S. Open. Nadal was the most angry of the three. He entered his match against Gilles Muller eight minutes late because he thought it was dangerous to head into Arthur Ashe Stadium. Fifteen minutes after starting the match with Nadal down 3-0 in the first, the match was called, clearly disturbing him.
“It was a tough day. We don’t feel protected here. The tournament grand slams, they are [getting] a lot of money and they are working for that, but not [for] us.”
Nadal, Roddick and Murray met tournament referee Brian Earley in a closed-door meeting after their matches were halted. Not as upset as Nadal, Murray and Roddick also voiced their opposition.
“It didn’t really make a whole lot of sense in the end to go out for nine or 10 minutes when it’s still raining,” Murray told The Associated Press.
“I was just wondering if he [the chair umpire] saw the same mist in the air that I saw,” Roddick said to AP. “The back was still a little wet. I understand everyone wants to see it on TV and certainly, at the end of the day, we’re a sport, but this whole thing is a business. Everyone here is kind of in the same boat, so they need a product on the court.”
It will be interesting to see what tournament officials and CBS do about the scheduled Sunday men’s Championship match. Four matches have already been cancelled for the day (No. 2 Nadal vs. Muller), (No. 21 Roddick vs. No. 5 Ferrer), (No. 4 Murray vs Young), and (No. 28 Isner vs. No. 12 Giles Simon). These matches will be pushed back to Thursday and possibly force players to play four straight days with a Sunday Championship date.
