Nadal sees red over blue court

Rafael Nadal lost to Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Thursday at the Madrid Open, then threatened not to return if the new blue clay court wasn’t discarded. Nadal (pictured at right) blew a 5-2 lead in the third set en route to the loss, his first to Verdasco in 14 matches. The Spaniard blamed his first loss on clay in almost a year on the blue clay, calling it soft and slippery earlier in the week. “Being able to move is very important for me and if I can’t move well, I can’t hit the ball well …

Rafael Nadal lost to Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 Thursday at the Madrid Open, then threatened not to return if the new blue clay court wasn’t discarded. Nadal (pictured at right) blew a 5-2 lead in the third set en route to the loss, his first to Verdasco in 14 matches. The Spaniard blamed his first loss on clay in almost a year on the blue clay, calling it soft and slippery earlier in the week. “Being able to move is very important for me and if I can’t move well, I can’t hit the ball well either,” said Nadal, a two-time Madrid champion. “If things don’t change, this will be one less tournament on the calendar for me. This surface destabilizes the game. It is a completely different game and I don’t want to take risks.”

– Associated Press