Spanish star Rafael Nadal has backed the United Cup concept but insists tournament organisers need to reconsider the structure of the format to avoid so many dead rubbers in the future.
Nadal was beaten by Alex De Minaur in the opening rubber of Spain’s tie against Australia on Monday night, but the match meant nothing in the context of the tournament.
Both Spain and Australia, who lost their respective opening ties to Great Britain, had no chance of finishing top of their group and went into Monday night’s matches knowing they couldn’t qualify for the finals.
Nadal, who lost both of his matches at the United Cup, said tournament officials should consider altering the format to avoid a repeat in the future.
“I’m not sure yet about the schedule,” Nadal said following his loss to De Minaur.
“But putting things in perspective that this competition I find a negative point, you know. Competition is great. Idea is great. It’s not great that today we are playing for nothing. I really believe … it’s the first year of this competition, so that kind of things that need to fix, to improve, and to make it more interesting for everyone.”
Spain’s Rafael Nadal, right, congratulates Australia’s Alex de Minaur after their match at the United Cup in Sydney.Credit:AP
Nadal suggested that the loser of the opening tie in each group should play against the team that is yet to play.
The major setback with such a format would be the inability to sell tickets to specific matches. Monday night’s match at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney was played in front of a sellout crowd, with most tickets sold when Nadal was scheduled to take on Nick Kyrgios.
De Minaur was promoted into Australia’s No.1 player position after Kyrgios’ 11th hour withdrawal, and the crowd wasn’t disappointed with the action they witnessed.
“I really believe that in a group of three, the loser of the first tie needs to play with the team that didn’t play yet, because that makes the competition much more interesting,” Nadal said.
“Competition is great. Idea is great. It’s not great that today we are playing for nothing. I really believe … it’s the first year of this competition, so that kind of things that need to fix, to improve, and to make it more interesting for everyone.”
Nadal was scheduled to play mixed doubles for Spain in the opening tie against Great Britain but was a late scratching because the Brits had clinched the victory before the fifth rubber.
“With the format how it is, the last mixed doubles match [against Great Britain] probably I [would] be playing, because maybe that match can make a difference even losing the tie because we have another day,” Nadal said.
“Like this, yesterday, for example, is not fair for the others at the same time, because we didn’t put our best feel on court on the last match, so we give advantage to Great Britain, for example, if in case they lost the final, so maybe that can make the difference at the end.
“So I don’t think is good for the competition that today we are playing against Australia, both of us being out of the tournament. So that will not happen if the country who didn’t play at the beginning played with the loser of the first day, all the matches are going to make sense. That’s the thing that I think needs improving in that competition for the future.”
Watch the United Cup live and free on the 9Network – Channel 9 and 9Gem. Every match will be available live on 9Now.
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