Nadal, out of Australian Open, disagrees with Djokovic – Newstrends
Connect with us

Sports

Nadal, out of Australian Open, disagrees with Djokovic

Published

on

Rafael Nadal suffered a shock defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open quarter-finals after holding a two-set lead.

But he doesn’t agree with Novak Djokovic’s assessment that the 2021 season should be cancelled if players will need to continually enter quarantine before a tournament.

Nadal looked on course for a potential clash with Djokovic in the Australian Open final, having breezed through to the quarter-finals without dropping a set.

And he was in top form early on against Stefanos Tsitsipas, quickly taking a two-set lead.

But Tsitsipas quickly stepped up another gear while mistakes began to creep into Nadal’s game.

The 22-year-old capitalised and took his chances when it mattered most to pull off one of the most remarkable comebacks in modern Grand Slam history.

It brings an end to Nadal’s search for that elusive second Australian Open title for another year in what has proved to be a controversial tournament among the players.

They were forced to quarantine in the weeks building up to the Australian Open with some players being unable to leave their hotel rooms.

Djokovic, speaking after his quarter-final win over Alexander Zverev, called for an urgent review of the conditions looking ahead for the remainder of the season.

And the world No 1 even claimed that players would be against competing should the quarantine restrictions from Melbourne be copied at other tournaments over the world.

Nadal though doesn’t see the benefit of doing that, hinting that protecting players’ ranking positions could be a way forward.

When asked for his opinion on Djokovic’s view, Nadal said: “Honestly, this was the first event that we had to do this quarantine.

“We didn’t have events before that with this quarantine.

“I mean, we had maybe it was New York but was not the same at all. I mean, the situation that we are facing is tough, and the world is facing a very tough situation.

“That’s very clear. And he’s completely right that, for our sport, things are difficult because governments are changing the rules constantly.

“So it’s difficult to make predictions about how the things gonna happen.

“But there is a very clear thing, you know. There is two options. Two options is stop the tour or keep going.

“My personal feeling is it’s tough for the players, of course, have to do bubbles in every single event, flying just plus two, a lot of players have family and they cannot have the family with them, so that makes our tour probably tougher than ever, no?

“But in the other hand, if we stop the tour, why and how and when we will be able to come back, and a lot of jobs gonna suffer a lot.

“I mean, not only players. A lot of people are living for our sport, no? If we stop our sport again, a lot of people are going to suffer, no?

“So we need to have a little bit more – I mean, we need to think a little bit bigger, no? And of course we need to protect players.

“Probably we need to find a way to protect the players with the ranking, to not force them to keep playing, yes, 100%, because the situation is very tough for a lot of players depending on the countries.

“But that’s it. We need to find solutions and we need to adapt to this very tough times that we are facing.

“Not only us; world. We are here to find solutions. I mean, and we need to be grateful to life that we can keep doing what we are doing.”

– express.co.uk

Sports

Manchester United beat Liverpool in FA Cup seven-goal thriller

Published

on

Manchester United beat Liverpool in FA Cup seven-goal thriller

Substitute Amad Diallo scored the winner as Manchester United beat rivals Liverpool 4-3 in an FA Cup quarter-final clash at Old Trafford.

United took an early lead thanks to Scott McTominay’s opener but Liverpool drew level when Mac Allister struck. Mohamed Salah gave the visitors the lead and it looked like there were going to win it until substitute Antonio struck in added time.

The match went into extra-time and Harvey Elliot scored for the visitors. Again, it looked like Liverpool had done enough to win the tie when Marcus Rashford who had wasted two glorious chances drew the home team level.

READ ALSO:

Amad had the final say. A counter-attack by Manchester United gave the Ivorian a glorious opportunity to steal the limelight and he did, scoring the winner in 120th minute.

Amad was shown a second yellow card for taking off his jersey as his team battled on with 10-men to secure passage to the semi-final of the FA Cup.

Manchester United beat Liverpool in FA Cup seven-goal thriller

Continue Reading

Sports

Kane sets new record as Bayern beat Darmstadt

Published

on

Harry Kane

Kane sets new record as Bayern beat Darmstadt

Harry Kane set a new personal best of 31 league goals in a season as Bayern Munich beat Darmstadt to close the gap on Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen to seven points.

Darmstadt took the lead through Tim Skarke before Jamal Musiala levelled.

Kane’s diving header put Bayern in front and Musiala dribbled past the Darmstadt defence for his second.

Substitute Serge Gnabry and Mathys Tel made it five for Bayern with Oscar Vilhelmsson scoring Darmstadt’s second.

Despite being bottom of the table, Darmstadt gave Bayern a few scares in the first half but tired in the second period as Bayern exerted their control.

There was one moment of concern for England captain Kane in the second half when he appeared to injure his ankle colliding with a goalpost.

READ ALSO:

Kane was substituted after the incident in the 82nd minute and Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel was unsure how serious it was.

“He slipped and fell into the net and twisted his ankle,” said Tuchel. “He’s cooling it down with ice and we don’t have a diagnosis yet.

“When Harry goes off it’s never a good sign because Harry never goes off when there’s still goals to score.”

Kane had previously scored 30 goals in two Premier League seasons while at Tottenham Hotspur.

He has also set a new record for the most goals in a Bundesliga debut campaign, overtaking the previous record set by Uwe Seeler (30) for Hamburg in 1963-64 – which was the first season of the Bundesliga.

He will return to England for the Champions League quarter-finals next month when Bayern face his old foes Arsenal – he has scored 14 goals against the Gunners in 19 appearances.

The first leg takes place at Emirates Stadium on 9 April with the return leg a week later on 17 April.

Kane sets new record as Bayern beat Darmstadt

Continue Reading

Sports

FA Cup: Manchester City, 1 other team qualify for semi-finals

Published

on

FA Cup: Manchester City, 1 other team qualify for semi-finals

Two teams have booked their places in this season’s FA Cup semi-finals.

They are Coventry City and Manchester City.

The Championship side stunned Wolves with two injury-time goals to win 3-2 at the Molineux on Saturday.

US forward Haji Wright’s strike booked Coventry’s place in the last four for only the second time in the club’s history.

READ ALSO:

At the Etihad, Bernardo Silva scored twice in the first half, as City beat Newcastle United 2-0.

The last two spots will be decided on Sunday, when Chelsea host Leicester City and Manchester United clash with Liverpool at Old Trafford.

FA Cup: Manchester City, 1 other team qualify for semi-finals

Continue Reading

Trending

Skip to content