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Nadal busts Vilas
record as Argentine whines
Veteran questions two-year period,
quality of tournaments in streak |
Cynthia Lum/WireImage.com |
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| Guillermo
Vilas was not all warm and fuzzy about Rafael Nadal breaking
his consecutive clay court win record. |
DAY 2 FROM ROLAND GARROS
– Guillermo Vilas, who is known in higher tennis circles as
the "international guest"for his unending visits to
the all the Slams, was pretty bitter on Monday after Rafael Nadal
broke his record with a convincing 6-2, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Robin
Soderling in swirling winds in the first round.
Say goodbye to Vilas 53 match clay court winning streak in 1977 and
hello to Nadal’s 54 in 2006.
Vilas was on hand to congratulate Nadal, but still told Reuters that
Nadal’s record wasn’t quite up to snuff. Imagine what
he’ll say if Nadal repeats his Roland Garros run and notches
win No. 60.
"First of all, Nadal's performance is spanning over two years,
which is not the same,"the 53-year-old Vilas told Reuters "Then,
I have the feeling he added easy tournaments on his schedule just
for that purpose."How the Argentine thinks that is beyond comprehension, given that
this year, alone, Nadal beat standout fields at Monte Carlo, Barcelona
and Rome, knocking out Roger Federer twice. Who does he think Nadal
was facing, dozens of Onny Paruns?
What Vilas was allegedly referring to was Nadal’s decision last
summer to play Bastaad and Stuttgart after Wimbledon, but the Spaniard
did notch wins over Ferrero, Robredo and Gaudio in those tournaments,
two of them former RG champs and who just won Hamburg.
But like many legends, Vilas wants his legacy to live on.
"I have three records,"he said with laugh. "One
is on clay. I didn't know that I had this record. I found out, thanks
to Rafael. They never gave me any trophy or anything at the time.
But when he started to win on the clay courts, they started counting.
The other record that was recognized is 46 matches without losing.
In his case, I think he lost in Key Biscayne and places like that,
but he never lost on clay. I knew this record on clay was broken.
Then the [winning] 14 tournaments in one year is another record. I
hope he's not going to break my other results."Nadal laughed and responded, "If I do 46 and I win Wimbledon,
I might as well retire."
Vilas did have some nice things to say about Nadal, saying that he
likes him personally.
"He's a fantastic person. He is a friend. I know his family,
the mother, the father, the sister, the uncle. He's an exceptional
person. I'm pleased. If I had to lose that record, I'm pleased it
was losing to somebody like that. It's a real pleasure because he's
a fantastic person."Vilas just wanted to set the record straight on his feelings about
his place in tennis versus Nadal’s. At this point, the Hall
of Famer does have a better overall record, but Nadal is only 19 and
is closing in on him.
"You can get as better as you try,"Vilas said. "You can see that he tries hard. He wants to take his game a step farther
all the time. He has added a few things. He slides better on clay.
You have to come with new weapons every year because when you are
a new player, you are a surprise, so people don't know how to play.
Then they figure out. You have to figure out what they are figuring
out and figure out something better. He says he lives for tennis.
He breathes tennis. He's very nice. He's not regretting not be able
to be with his friends in someplace or going to a lost island. He
wants to play tennis. That's the kind of player that always evolves."
Nadal didn’t play great against Soderling in impossible conditions,
where the swirling, cold winds chased thousands out of the stadium.
But as always he kept pushing forward and the soft Swede couldn’t
penetrate his hard shell.
Finally, after the victory, Nadal admitted that the pressure of the
streak was getting to him. Now he can relax and kick butt the rest
of the fortnight.
"Let’s try to beat it again,"he said. "I
thought about this record when I started to get close, so obviously
it's something that you want to go for. The final in Rome, I was
there. I was nearly there. Before that I wasn't thinking about the
record. You used to tell me in Barcelona there was this record ahead.
When you said that the record was only a Masters Series away that
used to frighten me. I'd never thought about the record until now.
When I got it, I think it's quite a nice thing to have. But it was
difficult. It was very difficult. That's 54 matches."
© TennisReporters.net 2006 |
