Nadal stands up for Contador

“The Contador news is incredible, there is no definitive evidence and they give him the maximum punishment…LAMENTABLE…keep your spirits up champion! All my support!”, said Rafael Nadal.

I'm not surprised Nadal would stand up for his countryman, thats the kinda guy Nadal is. However, coming from a protennis player is surprising since tennis players are one of the most tested athletes on the planet. There is no grey area in tennis, you get caught, you are instantly suspended. You can appeal but it takes a 1-2 months for a decision, not 2 years.
The Contador saga has been going on long enough. He either need to be suspended or left alone...they chose a suspension. I don't have an opinion either way. I believe cycling has a huge doping problem on their hands and the athletes are trying hard to look for new ways to beat the tests and the scientists are trying to find new tests to catch the athletes. One big game...why not just let everyone dope? Then you know you will have a level playing field. Have 2 sets of records, pre-doping and post doping. This would alleviate a lot of controversy. I mean baseball was a lot more exciting to watch when all the players were juiced.

Whats harder, running a marathon or playing 5 set to win the AU Open?

I have always said that tennis does not get the respect it deserves for being one of the most physically demanding professional sports one can play. Last year I was speaking with a baseball coach who had never seen a professional tennis match. "tennis is hard" he asked. This coming from a baseball player?? A sport where a hang nail can sideline you for a week. Luckily the French Open was starting the next week and I said, do me a favor and watch one match, only then will you understand.

Thankfully our sport has finals like the one we had last week at the Australian Open that went 6 hours and 5 sets. I was getting calls and texts from all my non-tennis fan friends asking "did you see that match!!". This final definitely changed a few minds about the demands of men's pro tennis and hopefully gained a few new fans at the same time.

But lets analyze this, what other sport puts 2 men through such agony that they can't stand through the trophy presentation? Boxing or MMA? OK I'll give you that one, although Nadal's forehand might feel like a punch in the face, fact is you actually can't get KO'd in a tennis match. Your ego can be badly bruised but no brain damage usually occurs!

But seriously, running a marathon? The pro's run those in their sleep barefoot. Marathons have a starting point and finish line. The runners are not reacting to the actions of another, their fate is in their hands, or feet if you will.

But lets take a marathon as an example. 26.2 miles run by a pro in about 2 hours.
Nadal and Djokovic had run 29 miles combined at 2-2 in the 5th set. This means by the end of the match each player would have run approx. 16 miles. Yes that's 16 miles of side to side sprints while at the same time stopping to hit a ball traveling at 70MPH and kicking off the court like and angry donkey.
Keep in mind each player had run approximitly13 miles just 2 nights before in their prior matches. Hard to determine the exact distance but using some basic math I estimate in the 7 matches needed to win a major, the finalist will run over 60 miles in the 2 week event. Impressive at every level. I'm not trying to get people to like tennis just respect it.

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