The recent Denis Shapovalov- Rafael Nadal controversy has led to a lot of noise among tennis coaches, former players and others associated with the sport. Support has been pouring in for the Spanish legend as many coaches and former players have spoken about Nadal’s respectful nature.
Recently tennis analyst and former player, Alex Corretja has described Shapovalov’s recent claims against Nadal are totally wrong. According to Corretja, Nadal is probably the most respectful player to his rivals.
Nadal recently progressed to the semifinals of the Australian Open defeated World No. 14 Dennis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals. Nadal won the match 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 in a hard-fought battle against the Canadian youngster.
During the game, Shapovalov was irritated by Nadal taking too much time. The Canadian was so irked that he complained about the issue to the chair umpire. He had an argument and ultimately called Carlos Bernardes ‘corrupt’ for allowing Nadal to go scot-free.
However, the Canadian later did admit that his choice of words was not right. But he still felt that the Spaniard is given too much leeway by the match officials. Later Nadal did shoot down the accusations as he felt that he has always felt the same as others.
Recently Corretja showed his support to Nadal on the recent accusations. Speaking to Eurosport, Corretja said, “It is strange that he (Shapovalov) says that about Rafa when, for me, he is one of the most respectful players with his rivals, and I think he is also wrong about treatment in his favour,” Corretja said. “With Rafa, they (the umpires) are also always very attentive and alert him that he has to play faster.”
Corretja highlighted how Shapovalov was a little tensed and wanted to up the tempo but Nadal did not allow him to do that. So he was irked and made the whole issue. “At the time, at the beginning of the second set, I think Shapovalov was a little tense,” Corretja continued. “He started looking at the clock, and he saw that Rafa was not ready when he was playing very fast, and I think he wanted to speed up his pace,” Corretja added.
Nadal is looking like a strong contender to win the Australian Open this season. But for him to reach the finals, the Spaniard will have to overcome the challenge of Matteo Berrettini in the semifinals of the Happy Slam.
