DJOKOVIC AND RAFA ‘NO FEAR’
NOVAK DJOKOVIC says he has no intention of missing Wimbledon despite the London terror attacks, declaring: ‘It’s not life if we live in fear.’ And Rafa Nadal says there is no reason to think of pulling out of the Aegon Championships.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC says he has no intention of missing Wimbledon despite the London terror attacks, declaring: ‘It’s not life if we live in fear.’
The three-time champion confirmed: ‘Everything will progress the same in terms of my plans for Wimbledon and I will try to go there with family.
‘It’s very disturbing that one of the biggest cities in the world is suffering these terrorist attacks. So of course it makes you wonder a little bit, makes you question certain things. But if we live in fear, you know, that’s not life.’
Rafael Nadal is due to play at the Aegon Championships in London after Paris and did not suggest he had any intention of pulling out. ‘It’s terrible to hear these kind of things, and you cannot feel 100 per cent safe,’ he said.
Nadal is through to the last eight of the French Open for the loss of a mere 20 games, with a reminder of both his clay court brilliance and his steelier side.
The latest beating he handed out was yesterday, against his compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut, maintaining his remarkable feat of dropping an average of five games per match with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
But Nadal got into a spat with umpire Carlos Ramos, seeming to threaten to have him stood down in future.
On one first-set changeover, when Ramos called him for a time violation, Nadal told him in their native tongue: ‘You are going to have to give me many more warnings in this match because you are not going to be in the chair again.’
Later, Ramos deducted him a first serve for playing too
slowly again, although, much of the problem is down to the officials haphazardly enforcing the 20- second rule between points at the Grand Slams.
‘Sometimes I feel I’m under pressure during the whole match,’ complained Nadal. ‘You have to let players breathe a little. This umpire is, I think, trying to look for my faults. This is the impression I have.’
His quarter-final opponent is another Spaniard, Pablo Carreno Busta and it is a match Nadal should have little trouble navigating. By Nadal’s standards, not having won the tournament since 2014 represents a drought. And only three times since 2005 has he not left with the title.
‘Last year was an opportunity lost because I felt that I was playing well (he suffered a wrist injury and withdrew from the third round). In 2009 I had a lot of knee problems. And in 2015 there was one player playing much better than me (he lost in the quarter-finals to Novak Djokovic).
Djokovic, Nadal’s scheduled semi-final opponent, recovered from an error-ridden start to win against the in-form Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6, 6-1, 6-3.
The Serb will be without coach Andre Agassi for the rest of the tournament, as the American is on holiday.