Nadal wins Weekly Eye On Sports E.S.P.N. award, Nole close second!

World No. 3 Rafael Nadal complained to no end
last week about the new, blue clay at Ion Tiriac's Madrid Open.

I know the title of this post states how now, world No. 3 Rafael Nadal is the recipient of the second weekly Eye On Sports E.S.P.N. (Especially Stupid Pain the Neck) award, but I probably should have titled it ‘Bi**hing the night away!’ the way Nadal cried like a baby all week long about the innovative blue clay surface at the Madrid Open.

Here’s a morsel of Nadal’s almost non-stop ‘bitching’ complaints.

"If things continue, [there] will be one less tournament in my calendar," Nadal said. "The movements are important for me and here I cannot move so I cannot hit the ball the way that I want.

Want some more whine with your cheese Eye On Sports tennis fans?

Okay, try this on for size then.

"I think the tournament is great but that [changing the courts] is a bad decision. If you put the Cincinnati tournament on grass just before the US Open, do you think people are going to be happy? I don't think so,” Nadal said.

 “Movements are very important for me, and here I cannot move,” Nadal said in a news conference. “Control comes from the legs, and here you can’t get it.”

Now, maybe it’s me Eye On Sports racquet enthusiasts, but you would think that all of Nadal’s opponents were playing on a different surface from the one he was playing on in Ion Tiriac’s prized tournament.

"I am not prepared to risk something happening next year if nothing changes."

This past  Thursday, Nadal lost in the third round to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 and immediately said afterward that if the tournament’s organizers did not change back to its familiar red clay, “it will be one less tournament in my calendar,” he said.

While Nadal suffered the first loss of his career to Verdasco in 13 meetings, what goes left unsaid is that Rafa was serving for the match at 5-2 in the third set – before falling completely apart against the talented Verdacso.

To make matters worse, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic joined Nadal in his bashing of the tournament’s new blue clay – shortly after losing to fellow countryman Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.

"You are tripping and slipping and sliding all the time and the winner will be the one who doesn't get hurt until the end of the week because a lot of players fell down," Djokovic said.

Last but certainly not least, let me just say that I genuinely believe that both, Nadal and Djokovic are desperately trying to garner up support for their respective causes, even if they don’t hold quite as much weight with their ATP counterparts.