Rafael Nadal dragged into sexism storm after powerful post

A tennis post “overlooking women” has been called out by a sporting legend after she was written out of history at the French Open.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were mentioned in the post.

A lazy statement from Novak Djokovic has created a sexism storm at the French Open following Rafael Nadal’s destruction of the World No. 1 in the men’s final on Monday morning.

Nadal demolished Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 to win his 13th French Open and equal the all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles held by Roger Federer who hailed the victory as “one of sport’s greatest achievements”.

It also hauled Nadal back to 27-29 in his epic personal rivalry with the Serbian champion.

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Djokovic over the weekend described Nadal as his greatest rival in a classy tribute to the Spaniard leading up to their showdown at Roland Garros.

Djokovic also appeared to make a clumsy mistaken claim that the rivalry is the “biggest” in the history of tennis.

It didn’t take long before he was corrected to remember the iconic two-decade rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the WTA Tour.

King of Clay.

While Djokovic’s statement could simply have been a clumsy failure to clarify that he was only talking about men’s tennis, the statement has been interpreted by some to be an unhelpful distraction from the sport’s commitment to equal treatment of men and women.

Evert and Navratilova went to war 80 times from 1973 until 1986 — a staggering rivalry captured in ESPN’s Unmatched 30 for 30 film.

Evert said before Nadal’s win on Monday morning that her rivalry with Navratilova deserved recognition.

“Well, true... in men’s tennis... Martina and I played 80 times,” Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, wrote on Twitter.

Tennis broadcaster Catherine Whitaker replied: “If I could like this tweet more than once then I sure as heck would.”

Well, true... in men’s tennis... @Martina and I played 80 times..😉 https://t.co/ZB7031gL4c

— Chris Evert (@ChrissieEvert) October 11, 2020

Evert further attacked the clunky statement on Twitter by writing: “When will men think before they tweet powerful statements once again overlooking women????”.

Again Whitaker replied, saying: “I hope the answer is ‘soon’ because I’ve got too many things to despair about this year and crossing one off the list would be helpful!”

Evert’s tweet was also mentioned by 12-times singles Grand Slam winner Billie Jean King who also reminded her followers that Evert and Navratilova had faced each other 80 times.

“ChrissieEvert and Martina played each other 80 times. #HistoryMatters,” she wrote on Twitter.

Reuters reports Navratilova also won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and beat Evert on 43 occasions as the pair shared the No. 1 ranking for more than 12 years.

Nadal and Federer have been some of the biggest advocates for gender equality at the top of the men’s game in recent years.

Federer in 2018 went out of his way to declare Serena Williams the greatest player in the sport’s history — men or women.

In a year where controversy has followed him everywhere he has gone, Djokovic had plenty of other things to worry about in Paris after Nadal’s straight sets masterclass on Monday.

Chris Evert with Sofia Kenin of the US and French Open winner Iga Swiatek.

For Djokovic, the defeat ended his hopes of an 18th Slam and of becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all four majors twice.

Nadal, 34, claimed his 100th match win at Roland Garros against just two defeats since his 2005 debut.

The Spaniard, the oldest champion in Paris since Andres Gimeno in 1972, claimed the title without dropping a set.

He finished the one-sided affair with just 14 unforced errors to his opponent’s 52.

“Congrats to Novak for another great tournament. Sorry for today. We’ve played plenty of times together - one day one wins, another the other,” said Nadal.

“After all the things I have been through in my career with injuries, I could not have done it without my family.”

Nadal said he wasn’t even thinking about matching Federer’s record. “It’s been a very tough year. Winning here means everything to me so it’s not about equalling Roger on 20, for me today it’s just a Roland Garros victory,” said Nadal who had skipped the US Open due to the global health crisis and was playing just his second tournament since February.

“Roland Garros means everything to me. I spent most of the most important moments of my tennis career here.

“Just playing here is a true inspiration. The love story I have with this court and city is unbelievable.” For Djokovic, it was just his second loss of 2020 following his default at the US Open.

— with AFP