Rafael Nadal has resigned from the ATP Players Council, a number of journalists—including the New York Times' Chris Clarey and Australia’s Craig Gabriel—reported. Clarey tweeted that Nadal has been frustrated by a lack of support from other players. Nadal told the London Times' Neil Harman in January that he was tired of the aggravation that goes along with being a board member. He and fellow council member, president Roger Federer, have disagreed over issues as of late, such as a potential two-year ranking, the schedule and time violations.
Interesting. Can someone shed some light on the ATP Players Council, who it consits of, what they do and what has been their significant contribution in the last decade or two? I am very much un-aware of it's details.
It seems like Nadal was trying to push for some changes. I think that's a good thing, to suggest and push for positive changes. But he quit? That seems like a bold and somewhat questionable move. Is his frustration on court stemming over to other things? Or is this part of the something else that's also been showing up on court? How does this affect how people look at him and will this help/hurt his game and chances as a tennis player?
Seems to me he's a little frustrated and wants to get rid of all extra-curricular things that are even remotely bothering him and focusing on just his tennis, which is a very wise decision.
Also, please don't turn this into a Roger vs. Rafa thread, but we can discuss the views. Perhaps the fact that he wasn't getting support meant Rafa should reconsider his views? Like I said, i think it's good to suggest changes and be pro-active but doesn't mean you quit or get angry when you don't get support. I personally don't agree with the two year ranking, that makes no sense whatsoever to me. As far as the time violations, I think it has to be a joint effort between the umpires AND the players. Umpires should be a little harsher but at the same time, they can't give violations for every point in a Djokovic-Nadal match, the players should also help the cause and speed up a bit. The same applies to shrieking in the WTA. If the players don't cooperate and take the first steps to improvement, it's a downward spiral because the game is driven by the players - especially the top players. If they do something and it's "ok" then everyone's going to follow suit.
