Rafael Nadal, who has criticized the ATP for allowing next week’s Madrid Masters tournament to color its clay blue, practiced on the surface on Friday and then launched into further criticism. Nadal says visibility is an issue, and suggests that the second of three Masters Series clay events should not make such a radical change in the middle of the clay season.
"This court has two and half problems," he told reporters. "The main thing for me is that on back fence that the advertising [signage] is low and in addition, the LEDS (lights) are the same color of the court. You lose a lot of the sight of ball when your opponent hits it at that height. Changes must be done. Also, the court is more slippery than usual, because I do not know if you have too little clay, it's hard underneath it, and [maybe] if you paint it blue its more slippery ... I am not a technician, but I've noticed it. There are times when the court is soft, but that’s a less worrisome problem."
The second-ranked Spaniard, who lost in last year’s final to Novak Djokovic, added while the problems are the same for every player, "some benefit players who are more powerful, who don’t have footwork so defined, players like [John] Isner, [Milos] Raonic, or [Roger] Federer—it’s a court that rewards the serve more than usual."