Rafael Nadal defended by Andy Roddick after 'dumb' backlash over Indian Wells withdrawal
Andy Roddick gave his verdict in Rafael Nadal's decision to pull out of Indian Wells.
Andy Roddick has leapt to Rafael Nadal’s defence after the Spaniard received some backlash when he was forced to pull out of Indian Wells. Nadal opted to play a Netflix exhibition match in Las Vegas ahead of the tournament, leading some to question why he was fit enough to do that but not compete in an official tournament. But Roddick believes the comparisons are “dumb”.
Nadal has played just one tournament in the last 13 months as he continues to face physical setbacks. He suffered a season-ending left psoas injury at the 2023 Australian Open and returned in Brisbane at the beginning of this year, looking promising before picking up a micro muscle tear during his quarter-final loss.
Since then, Nadal has been forced to pull out of the Australian Open, Qatar Open, and now Indian Wells. The 22-time Major winner arrived in America more than a week before the start of the tournament to prepare. After facing Carlos Alcaraz in the inaugural Netflix Slam in Las Vegas, he pulled out of the Californian Masters event just 24 hours before his match.
It led some to question why Nadal exerted himself in Vegas and risked ruining his chances of competing in Indian Wells, but Roddick has now slammed suggestions that the two tournaments can even be compared. “I was in Vegas, able to see him play the exhibition - the Netflix Slam - with Carlos Alcaraz. It’s not as if he pitched up to Vegas all of a sudden,” the former world No. 1 said on his Served podcast.
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“He was in Palm Springs for a week before that, not because he cared about playing in the exhibition, it’s because he cared about playing in Palm Springs. Got there, was getting used to the surface, trying to go through his paces properly. Because he played in an exhibition, it doesn’t mean he is ready to go. Is he gonna go rip his body apart if his goal is to win one match at Indian Wells?”
Explaining why it was “dumb” to compare an exhibition match to Indian Wells, Roddick continued: “An exo is very different. These guys put on a great show in Vegas, they did everything they had to do to make it entertaining, but that is very different than going through the best players on earth on a stickier surface.
“Because you can play two sets against someone you are friendly with when you know they are compromised too doesn’t mean they are apples to apples. I think it is dumb to treat it that way.” Roddick also believed that Nadal had every intention of trying to compete in the desert, especially given that he arrived so early.
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“Rafa gets the benefit of the doubt, he didn’t just come over for an exhibition,” he added. “He gets the benefit of the doubt, he is not going to say, ‘I am not playing Indian Wells if he’s not.’
“It would have been a perfectly acceptable explanation to say, ‘Hey I don’t know if I can play six or seven matches on a gritty hard court right now, but I can play a couple of sets indoors and I look forward to playing the Netflix Slam.’ No one would have cared, that’s rational so I don’t know why all of a sudden we are up in arms about that right now.”