In an interview with Spanish web site Tennis Topic, Feliciano Lopez discusses the negative side of social media.
“I use Instagram, for example, and the people are very affectionate, grateful and I like to share things with them, but Twitter is a real problem,” the veteran Spaniard said. “There are things that should be changed. A person should not be able to create an account and get to insult anyone he/she seems fit. That should be punished, there should be a law to regulate it. Someone can not create a profile on Twitter, Facebook or any social network and throw out insults left and right and nothing happens.”
Lopez also complained about the length of the ATP season, and that there are rarely breaks in between tournaments.
“It's tough sport, especially at the individual level,” he said. “Losing is a lot worse in individual sports than in team sports. So tennis is so hard mentally. There is also another problem. The joys on court last very little time. When things go well, and you get to a tournament weekend and doing semifinals, finals or even win the title, you're thinking of going to the airport running to play the next tournament. This happens in 99 percent of cases. You cannot enjoy the moment, having won a tournament…There are many things that need to change in tennis.”
The 32-year-old says that while he has seen progress made with the players getting more money from of the Grand Slam tournaments, he has seen no fundamental reform in the past 15 years.
“I think it’s impossible to have real change, and one that favors the players,” he said. “Tennis has a problem by the mixed set of interests that exists between those who rule. There are many organizations with too much power, and it is very difficult to get that many people to agree. The ITF, the ATP, players, agents, tournaments...You cannot fight for a cause if there are a thousand divided interests. And that's f---ed.”