Former Spanish top 10 star Carlos Costa talked about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the world of tennis in the near future in an interview to Spanish podcast 3iGuales. Costa, who is Rafael Nadal’s coach, said that playing bhind closed doors does not work for tennis.
“Tennis is not profitable behind closed doors. It would imply to keep away from people. The people is not calm either. I do not see it possible until there is a vaccine or at least a medicine that guarantees protection to 70% of society. In tennis you even share the ball. Playing tennis involves travelling, taking planes. It’s not going to an office and going home. Tennis will suffer more than other sports because it’s global. It is not easy to control the movement of players, officials, coaches and journalists. It will be difficult to organize a public event, until a vaccine is found”, said Costa.
Costa said that he is worried about the future of tennis after the pandemic.
“I agree with Roger Federer’s idea of a merger between ATP and WTA. I think that both organizations have started talking about this plan”.
Costa hopes that players will be able to resume training in the next days.
“Nadal said that he hoped that players would be able to train in the coming days. I understand why there is a difference between competing and training. The coach can throw a bucket of balls at him and he can hit them but it is not the same. Why can’t he train if it is job ? Since they are stopped, the injuries will come. You have to keep hitting the ball. It is a habit that you have been doing for so many years that when you stop doing it, joints suffer. It is a pity that Spanish athletes, especially in individual sports, can not continue with their work.”.
