Rafael Nadal admitted he cheated during the crucial moment of his final showdown with Novak Djokovic in the 2013 US Open. The 13-time Grand Slam champion bared it all in an interview with Spanish Newspaper El Pais.
Nadal, who's looking to reclaim the top spot in the world ranking at the 2013 China Open, admitted that he's indeed receiving tips from his trainer and uncle Toni Nadal during his matches, including the title-clinching game of his 2013 US Open duel with Novak Djokovic.
"It was in the last game, when I was serving for the match. ... I didn't know where to serve. Down the center, to the middle or to try the classic play of the wide serve and then try to hit the forehand. They told me to serve wide and that's where I served," Rafael said.
Rafael has been repeatedly accused of cheating before,including one instance which happened during his showdown with Roger Federer few years ago. Toni Nadal was hit with a $2,000 fine for coaching his nephew during the match.
Rafa's uncle coach also admitted that he was guilty of coaching his nephew to the extent that he drew the ire of opponents. One example for this is when Federer complained about Toni's coaching during a match with Rafa in Rome in 2006.
"He was coaching a little bit too much again today. I caught him in the act. I told him many times already, through the entire match in Monaco, but it seems like they don't keep a close enough eye on him," Federer said at the time, according to Larry Brown Sports.
Toni Nadal replied with this statement:
"I think all the sports make an evolution," he said. "It's not natural that you pay a coach and this coach travels to Australia and to New York to watch his player and he can't say nothing."
AOL news tennis analysts Greg Couch has a problem with the current rule, insisting it should be either revoked or reinforced.
"See, coaching has become one of those unaccepted, accepted broken rules. And that might be the problem with hitting Nadal too hard now. It's not fair when you suddenly enforce rules you have been winking at all along," Couch said.
"But worst of all is the way tennis handles this. If officials make the mistake of dumping the rule, then they need to just do it. If the rule stays, then it has to be enforced. Have the rule or don't, but you can't have it both ways," Couch added in his article.
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