Rafael Nadal may have been famous for expressing his emotions on the tennis courts in the heat of the matches, but his voice was also heard over the loudspeakers outside the stadium expressing his frustration over the outcome of a match for his favorite football team Real Madrid over the weekend.
The Spanish player was training before the Barcelona Open final, which was decided by a victory over Stefanos Tsetsipas on Sunday, and he was frank in assessing Real's shaky march to defend the Spanish League title.
It seemed that Nadal - who supports the royal club despite his uncle Miguel Angel has played more than 200 games with rival Barcelona - is talking to the referee Mohamed El Hayani about the Real Madrid 0-0 draw with Real Betis on Saturday.
"Glory to Madrid, but it is not good this year, a tie without goals, and we are two points away from the lead," Elhayani told Nadal. The player who won 20 Grand Slam titles in tennis appeared shocked, and responded, "A disaster, it is a disaster."
"The league is over," Nadal added desperately.
đ„ Tennis referee Mohamed El Hayani in an interview with Nadal about Real Madrid's match against Betis and the lack of goals in the team this season.
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"Madrid needs scorers, it needs a striker," the Swedish referee said, and Nadal sighed, answering "among other things."
With Real's tie with Betis, it ranks second with 71 points, two points behind leaders Atlético Madrid, and third-placed Barcelona has 71 points, but there is a game left for them.
Nadal was not affected by Real's stumbling, and he saved a deciding point for the match, before he crowned the Barcelona Open for the 12th time, winning 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 over his Greek opponent.
Zinedine Zidane's side undoubtedly hope to draw inspiration from Nadal's struggle to win the La Liga title.