Former Spanish tennis player David Ferrer says he understands why some Spanish players are furious about the distribution of Madrid Masters wildcards to international players, but noted that they need to understand that the Madrid Masters is now owned by IMG.
This week, only one Spaniard was announced as a Madrid wildcard recipient. Four Madrid wildcards were distributed to Andy Murray, Jack Draper, Lucas Pouille and Carlos Gimeno. That did not sit well with Fernando Verdasco, who shared a long message on his Twitter.
Ferrer is now the director of the Barcelona tournament. “There are many players that the Madrid tournament has given invitations to in the past and it has helped them a lot. That’s why I also see that some champions have a short memory.
So there is discontent because there are players who think that they still deserved it for this edition, which is quite respectable but… Basically what I want to say is that, whether you like it or not, the tournament is a private company that makes decisions according to a predefined strategy.
In Italy, the Rome tournament is owned by the Italian federation, which is a game changer, in Madrid it is not, and here in Barcelona our logic has always been to favor our compatriots,” Ferrer explained, according to We Love Tennis.
Novak Djokovic will play the Mutua Madrid Open.
Nole Djokovic will play the 2022 French Open
Alex Corretja believes Novak Djokovic needs to make a big effort physically in order to be ready for the 2022 French Open. The former World No.
2 feels the Serb may need to play 10 to 12 matches ahead of Roland Garros to get his game in order. “We need to understand he’s been through so much pressure in the last months for many issues and it’s not easy for him to deal with all those situations,” Corretja said.
“And clay – even [though] he is an unbelievable player on it – is not his natural surface. His serve is not as big as on hard courts. So he’s not counting on so many quick points with the serve. His forehand is good, but it’s not as great as on hard courts where the ball can get through the court and his backhand is unbelievable because it’s very flat and from side-to-side, but at the same time you need to be very precise to play well on clay,” Corretja added.
“So [there are] a lot of adjustments he needs to find through the tournaments and it’s important for him to play those matches to get the confidence back and especially the mindset to know – ‘OK, I am back on tour and I need to do this to become a champion again at Roland Garros'”
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here