by Pete Bodo
There was probably no better definition of the Davis Cup dilemma than the one inadvertently embodied in the conflicting opinions offered last week at Wimbledon by two men, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic—the ur-players who would also end up vying for the Wimbledon title, which was won by Djokovic.
A few days before the final, Rafael Nadal went on what, for him, was a genuine and mildly astonishing rant, explaining why he opted out of this weekend's Davis Cup final vs. the USA in Austin, TX. Nadal suffered a significant foot injury during his fourth-round clash with Juan Martin del Potro, which may help explain why he sounded so frustrated and bitter when he was asked about his decision to skip this Davis Cup week.
"The problem (with Davis Cup) is the ITF, my opinion." Nadal said. "They don't want to change nothing. They are never able to change nothing on the calendar, nothing in the format of the Davis Cup competition. And some things they are doing bad, because the best player of the world—a lot of times we are not able to play.
"So that's happen, they have to think what's going on, no? But they don't think nothing. They keep winning their money and that's it. For me is hard not go to United States and play for my country. For somebody can think, 'Well, he only think about himself. He is playing his own things. Doesn't matter about the Davis Cup. It's not my case.
"I always try to play Davis Cup. For me is a really bad new not to be in USA defending my country. I love defend my country. But, seriously, ITF is not helping us nothing on that, and for me is an obligation to not go there. I cannot be in every place. I cannot be competitive every week of the year. My body needs to rest. You know, I am here. Day before I had little bit pain here. Today I had pain on the foot. Few days ago the knee. So, you know, I played a lot of matches the last six months, especially last five months, four months. Is too much.
"Seriously, is not possible be No. 1 or No. 2 playing Davis Cup every tie, be in all the places, be competitive in all the tournaments. Is not possible. I am not 18 anymore. I am 25. I am playing a lot of matches. I am lucky because I won a lot of matches, so for that reason I am playing that match, not because I am playing more tournaments than usual. So for that reason I cannot be there. For me is tough. But for the ITF, doesn't matter."
By contrast, there's the case of Novak Djokovic. He may not be as banged up as Rafael Nadal, who's actually played 10 more official matches this year (Djokovic is a mind-boggling 48-1 on the year, but Nadal has won more matches; he's 51-8). Djokovic re-asserted that he's playing for Serbia at Sweden (Robin Soderling is absent from the Swedish line-up, but we'll leave that for another day), and confirmed his mother Dijana's claim that he "lost his fear" after leading Serbia to the championship in 2010.
Furthermore, Dijana said that the winning Davis Cup experience, and the way it affected Djokovic, is the best explanation for the extraordinary level of play he's sustained this year. Jokingly, Djokovic said that if his mom felt that way, it had to be true—after all, she knows him better than anyone else does. And he went on to explain: "After the Davis Cup win I was full of life, full of energy, eager to come back to the tennis court, eager to play some more, win some other tournaments. In a sentence, I lost my fear. I believed in my abilities more than ever. Australia was one of the best tournaments I played in my life."
So there you have it. Two titans, with somewhat different feelings and histories—at this moment in time—with Davis Cup.
What's striking about Nadal's denunciation is how impassioned and self-justifying it is, and I quoted it at full length just to show how forceful he felt about it. I'm also struck by how how unnecessary it was for him to go off like that. It's almost as if Nadal feels guilty about not playing in Austin, and maybe somebody ought to have just pulled him aside and said, "Rafa, chill!"
It's very unlike Nadal to be unkind, and those remarks about the ITF are about as critical—and cynical—as you'll find anywhere in Nadal's oral history. They're also kind of silly. Does anyone think the ITF makes boatloads of money off of a, say, Croatia vs. Sweden tie? In fact, one of the reasons so many people want to change Davis Cup is because they see the money to be made in a different format. I can think of many cruel things to say about the ITF, but accusing them of clinging to the profit motive isn't one of them. They simply believe the competition is great, and worth preserving and continuing as is.
This Nadal situation highlights something interesting about the Davis Cup. Everyone expects it to be perfect, without really considering that our present "imperfect" Davis Cup regimen may be preferable to most if not all of the Davis Cup makeover schemes being floated out there. You know, the perfect is the enemy of the good and all that.