Rafa Nadal disagrees with Djokovic and calls for a “harder punishment” for attacks like Zverev’s

Reef Nadal He asked to sanction with greater force the bad behavior of the tennis players on the court. The Balearic, in his last press conference, referred to the commented incident of Zverev in which the German hit the judge’s chair several times with his racket. Despite having a good relationship, Nadal stressed that they are “example” for children and that it cannot be allowed. A different stance than Djokovicwho assured that he would “never” ask for a sanction for a colleague.

“I am in a difficult position,” Rafa Nadal acknowledged to the media. His good relationship with Zverev made him control his words, but it did not prevent him from admitting that he “was wrong” and that it would be necessary to “control this type of behavior or find a way to punish them in a stronger way.”

Nadal believes that in this way there would be “a feeling of impunity” among the players. “We need to be a positive example, especially for the children who are watching us. On the one hand, I don’t want Shasha to be penalized because I have a very good relationship with him. On the other hand, I would like to see tougher sanctions for this type of attitude”, reaffirmed the last champion of the Open de Australia.

Nadal’s words collide with those of Novak Djokovic, who in one of his last appearances assured that he would never request sanctions against a player beyond their behavior. “I will never root for the ATP to disqualify or fine a player. Everyone has flaws and can make mistakes. There have already been many examples of players hitting their racket against the judge’s chair.”

Zverev, for his part, has apologized several times. The most recent served to qualify his performance as “the worst moment” of his career and his life. “I will never act like that again. If that happens again, I should be banned from playing, but I’ll do my best to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Insufficient sanction

The German tennis player received a sanction of eight weeks without competing and about 23,000 euros of economic fine for his behavior. He was also expelled from the same tournament in Acapulco for the images starring. However, words like those of Rafa Nadal confirm that the measures of the tournament and the ATP have not been seen as a harsh corrective to the player.

Even Serena Williams, in view of the punishment received, assured that if she had starred in these events, the response would have been very different. “Of course there is a double standard. I’d probably be in jail if I did something like that, I’m not kidding.” “You see other things happen on the circuit and you ask yourself ‘what if I had done it?’ But it’s okay,” she justified.

[Más información – El calvario de Federer: la eterna rehabilitación y los problemas musculares le despiden de Wimbledon]

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