When Federer and Nadal teamed up against the blue nation of Madrid: “We brought out clowns, elephants and set up a circus” | Relief

A few months ago, on April 30 in particular, Rafael Nadal said goodbye to the Mutua Madrid Open for good on the edge of tears, respect and praise on the court Manolo Santana in which he lived many glorious evenings. It may seem small in comparison his exploits at Roland Garrosbut the Balearic He closed his time in the Spanish capital with five titles and three more finals.

However, Nadal’s time in Madrid has not been all smiles and happiness.. In addition to losing sports, There is a chapter that confronted the best Spanish athlete in history with the organization of the competition: the decision to color the clay blue. That idea, which was mooted for years and ended in 2012, created a rift between the world’s best tennis players and the person who had the competition, Ion Tiriac.

2012 edition – its crowning Roger Federer y Serena Williams– the first and last one with the blue ground. The players’ complaints were as great as that The ATP, the only one that approved the Tiriac project, ended up backing down and banning it. “The ATP should never have allowed it,” Nadal said in the bowels of the Caja Mágica in the spring of 2012, when they lost in the round of 16 against Fernando Verdasco.

However, Nadal’s refusal to play on blue clay goes back much further. AND Now what they said has come to light Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic several years earlier at a meeting of the ATP Players Councilthe representative body of tennis players in the men’s tennis governing body.

It was Eric Butorac, an American doubles player and a member of the Council at that time, who revealed what happened in the meeting where the players were asked for their opinion on the blue clay. At that time, in the late 2000s, Federer was president of the Council; Nadal, his deputy; and Djokovic, one of the members. The three best in history were actively involved in improving the conditions of the tour until the relationship between them was deteriorating. But that’s another story.

“I was elected to the Council and joined Roger, Rafa and Novak, three tennis players I had never met in my life. I had spoken to Roger’s parents, but I had never been with him. It was a scary situation,” Butorac begins about his experience on the Council, during a recent interview on Andy Roddick’s Served podcast.

Butorac, who reached number 17 in the doubles ranking, did not speak in the first two meetings of his Council. “And in the third one, in which Adam Helfant, who was the CEO of the ATP, was there, they talked about the blue land. Tiriac wanted to change the orange land for the blue and The proposal came to us. Adam told us: ‘I’m giving you all the materials and I want to do a quick poll on your opinion of blue clay.’“said the former doubles player.

Rejects Nadal, Federer and Djokovic: “I’m not voting”

“Helfant looked to his left and said, ‘Eric, you go first.’ They said blue looked better on TV, the gameplay was the same, so why not try it? Then Adam said: ‘Eric is voting yes, we already have a vote‘”, Butorac continues his conversation Roderick.

“So It was Rafa’s turn. “The whole earth must be orange,” he said and continued with a short speech in Spanish. When Rafa finished, the representative of the board, Giorgio, looks at all of us and says: ‘Rafa will not vote,'” said the former American tennis player.Then it was Novak’s turn, who says: ‘Last year they set up a blue track in Madrid (prototype), I tried it and it’s slippery and dangerous. I am not voting‘”.

“So finally He comes to Federer and says, ‘I think the blue clay is a good idea and then we should bring out the clowns and elephants and put a circus on the court .’“said Butorac and Roddick laughed out loud. “At the end of the meeting, Sam Querrey came to me and said, ‘Man, I was going to vote yes, but when he came to me it was 8 o’clock -one.'”

In that meeting, which must have happened between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2010, the players made their rejection of the blue court very clear. Tiriac’s idea was his first appearance in 2011, for the tenth anniversary of the tournament in the Spanish capital, but the ATP dismissed him. However, in the middle of 2011 the group finally agreed to the Romanian tycoon’s plan.

The vote was tied, with the three player representatives saying no and the three competition representatives supporting the change. ANDThe tiebreaker came with the vote of Adam Helfant, the CEO of the ATP who would leave the post just a few months later.