‘I don’t like that!’ – Kim Clijsters and Alex Corretja defend Rafael Nadal over service criticism at 2022 US Open

Eurosport tennis experts Kim Clijsters and Alex Corretja have defended Rafael Nadal from criticisms over the length of time of his service games. Over the years it has been pointed out that Nadal seems to take far longer to serve than most players, even with the serve clock now in action. Ad John McEnroe said earlier this year he believes Nadal «gets away with more» because he is such a great player, and he was cited by a reporter in Nadal’s post-match press conference after his first-round win over Rinky Hijikata.

US OpenThe simply unquantifiable influence and legacy of Serena Williams — US Open Diary7 HOURS AGO Nadal said he thought the speculation was “a joke” and that he didn’t think he received any preferential treatment, adding that he would plan to talk to McEnroe about it. Talking on the Eurosport pre-show ahead of the play on Wednesday both Clijsters and Corretja sided with Nadal. “It’s a joke,” said four-time Grand Slam champion Clijsters.

Former world No. 2 Corretja added: “The thing is, I'd love to be Rafa Nadal for a minute of my life — those passing shots at the end of the match… 'Everything starts now' — Corretja, Clijsters back 'very talented' Raducanu US Open live — Murray and Jabeur in early action with Gauff and Kyrgios to come Why Nadal was 'a little bit nervous' during US Open first-round victory “Secondly, it was a great set up for him, and about this [towel incident], even Rafa was listening to the journalist like, ‘Are you serious? You’re telling me this?’ “What I hate is when [journalists] come to you and they say ‘someone said that they said…’ Be straight. This is poor.