'Rafael Nadal won't play Los Cabos. He is on holiday that week' - Organizer
Rafael Nadal is a very loved player in Mexico, as the Spaniard is a regular participant in the Acapulco event. The organizers would love to bring him in Los Cabos, that takes place in late July prior to the Rogers Cup as well, but the Acapulco Tournament Director Raul Zurutuza admitted that's far from easy. "We have tried. But Rafa is on holidays that week. Also, Los Cabos tournament budget is quite different than Acapulco. Los Cabos has a very short history, just four years, we are starting to grow and the idea is to try to bring him one year", said Zurutuza.
Nadal dealt with a wrist injury the days before Acapulco, but Zurutuza never thought that the Spaniard would withdraw: "He trained in his hotel in Cozumel the week before and I saw him training before his matches, he was doing well and he was beaten by Kyrgios but he was looking good. I did not really worry about it, he played good tennis." Do they plan to have Nadal back next year? "Yeah, that's the plan. We will see how things are looking. The first idea is to bring him and hopefully, we have him back in 2020."
Alexander Zverev reportedly asked for a $400,000 appearance fee to play in Acapulco. Some tournament directors like Herwig Straka of Vienna and Edwin Weindorfer of Stuttgart claimed that's too high. "That's a very tricky situation because this is the market", Zurutuza admitted. "Players can even ask for $1 million to play in Acapulco. Every player is right to ask the value he thinks he is worth and then it's up to the tournament to decide if they want to pay that amount or not. That's the way the system works", said Zurutuza, adding that they spend $3 million on paying an appearance fee to all the players in Acapulco every year."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2YkMoTh
No comments