"I really don't want it, I don't feel I have it & I believe that he's wrong" - Rafael Nadal on Denis Shapovalov's claims of receiving preferential treatment
Rafael Nadal has shot down Denis Shapovalov's accusations of receiving preferential treatment from officials, saying he has never been the recipient of any "advantages" on the court.
Nadal needed just over four hours to beat Shapovalov in a five-setter at the Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. There was a controversial incident at the start of the second set, where Shapovalov hit out at the chair umpire for not handing Nadal a time violation.
The Canadian felt the Spaniard was taking too long between points, and even went on to describe the chair umpire as "corrupt." In the post-match press conference, the 22-year-old claimed officials regularly bent the rules when it came to matches involving Nadal.
When asked to respond to Shapovalov's claims, Nadal asserted that it was "wrong" for the Canadian to assume that top players play by a different set of rules. The Spaniard also pointed out that he himself never questioned the decisions taken by Bernardes, an umpire with whom he has had many run-ins in the past.
"I really believe that on the court you don't deserve better treatment than the others. And I really don't want it and I don't feel I have it," the Spaniard said during his post-match press conference. "Without a doubt, even as everybody knows, that I have huge respect for Carlos, and I think he's a great umpire. Is not the case that he was always hard with me on the court, no? No, no, I don't think that's the case."
"I really believe that sometimes the -- it's always in the mind that the top players get bigger advantages, no, and honestly on court is not true, no? That's my feeling. I never feel that I had advantages on court, and I really believe that he's wrong in that case, no?" Nadal added.
The 35-year-old sympathized with Shapovalov, but in the same breath said the Canadian's remarks were out of line.
"I honestly feel sorry for him. I think he played a great match for a long time," Nadal said. "I wish him all the very best. I think he will -- he's young, and everybody, I think we all make mistakes on our careers. I make a lot of mistakes too when I was younger, and probably he will understand later on after he thinks the proper way that probably he was not right today."
"I needed like 30 seconds extra to keep changing my clothes, I think it's fair that Carlos give me this extra time" - Rafael Nadal on controversial toilet break
Touching upon Shapovalov's outburst in the second set, Nadal said that he himself was not at fault for taking extra time since he needed 30 seconds to change into new clothes before the set commenced. He highlighted that Bernardes should not have called "time" so soon, as it was him who allowed the Spaniard extra time to get changed.
"Denis got pissed in that moment because the umpire called time and I needed like 30 seconds extra to keep changing my clothes, no?" the Spaniard said. "I think in that moment, and I think it's fair, no, that Carlos give me this extra time at that moment, because normally I think Carlos make a small mistake in that moment that he call time."
"Normally at the end of the set, the umpire looks around and waits a little bit to call time until the player is a little bit ready when he's changing, no?"
The 35-year-old also insisted that he was following all the necessary guidelines when he took toilet breaks during the match.
"So the new rule is when we go to the toilet, they call -- we have just a couple of minutes to stay in the toilet. So after the second set, I change all my clothes, and the guy who was coming with me was calling me, three minutes, two minutes, one minute. So I was just following the time that they give to me, no?"
"After that, I mean, I am going through all the rules. I mean, that was the thing. I think, in my opinion, Denis was wrong in that case. I understand that he just lost the set and in some way, he wanted to keep playing quick, but I think he understands, and he gonna understand a little bit later that normally you have some time to change your clothes."
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