“And then we pay the price”: Nadal wants fewer hard courts, a two-year ranking and shorter Masters 1000s
In an interview with the Associated Press, the 22-time Grand Slam champion said he could not push for less hard-court tennis while he was still playing. With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner both sidelined for long spells this season, he now says the surface and the calendar take too heavy a toll on players’ bodies.
Rafael Nadal, 2026 | © Zuma / PsNews
Rafael Nadal has laid out three changes he believes tennis needs: fewer hard courts, a ranking based on two years of results instead of one, and a return to one-week Masters 1000 tournaments. The 22-time Grand Slam champion made the case in an interview with the Associated Press published on November 3, in a season when both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have missed long spells through injury.
Nadal, who retired in November 2024 after a career repeatedly interrupted by injuries, was speaking by video from his home in Mallorca to promote his exhibition in Las Vegas on February 28. His comments have been widely picked up since this week.
“An aggressive surface for the body”
Asked whether he had wished for fewer hard-court events and more clay and grass during his career, Nadal said he had kept quiet at the time, because people would have thought he was defending his own interests on clay, “or even grass, that I think was my second-best surface”.
In tennis, we’re playing most of the time in a very, let’s say, aggressive surface for the body and for the joints.”
Rafael Nadal
His own body bears the marks. He played through chronic pain in his left foot for much of his career, had hip problems, and underwent surgery on his right hand nearly a year ago, after which he said he was “not able to do much” for four months.
A two-year ranking, like golf
Nadal also renewed his call for tennis to follow golf and move to a rolling ranking based on two years of results. The ATP and WTA rankings currently count the last 52 weeks, which forces players to defend their points every season.
A two-year system, he said, would “give the players a little bit more freedom to make better decisions and at the same time, when you get injured, you have more time to recover”, without seeing their ranking collapse.
Two-week Masters 1000s, “a mistake”
He also joined the many current players who criticise the extension of most Masters 1000 tournaments to two weeks, calling it “a mistake”. The longer format has left fewer windows for rest in an already crowded calendar.
Nadal himself is preparing carefully for his return to a court in Las Vegas, his first appearance in the United States since retiring. “I need to go step-by-step,” he said. “Because if I want to avoid injuries, the old body requires time and patience.”
