Rafael Nadal: Absurd Fixation on Blue Courts at Madrid Open Explains Loss

Even before Rafael Nadal took to the court—the blue court—at the Madrid Open, it wasn't difficult to see a loss was on the horizon.

Instead of focusing on winning the tournament for the third time in the last eight years and improving upon his second place finish to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in 2011, Nadal was focused on the very conspicuous change in scenery at Madrid.

As a result, he lost 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to Fernando Verdasco in the third round, bowing out to him for the first time in 14 matches.

Unsurprisingly, Nadal blamed the new blue clay for his troubles. He told the Associated Press, "If things don't change, this will be one less tournament on the calendar for me."

Nadal's third-round loss certainly came as a shock: It was only his seventh on clay in the last eight years, and it was his earliest loss in an event on a clay court since 2004.

But Nadal was blaming the blue clay long before he'd actually lost on it, and his fixation set the stage for his defeat. The blue clay was the brainchild of billionaire Ion Tiriac, whom Nadal accused of making the change with the approval of former CEO Adam Helfant but without the approval of the tournament board, according to the Agence France-Press.

Leading up to Madrid, Nadal passionately railed against the blue clay in a manner that made it impossible to wonder whether he was setting himself up for defeat. Earlier in the week, he told the Agence France-Presse, "This is about history. The earth is red, not blue. Tennis is not only about show business. … Some symbolic things in the world should be preserved."

There were other contenders, however—contenders like Djokovic and No. 3 Roger Federer—who simply chose to shrug at the innovation rather than ceaselessly criticize it. There were players who spent their pre-tournament time practicing on the blue clay and devising a way to win on it rather than discussing it with steam coming out of their ears.

Nadal's frustration is understandable; as a player with a long track record of success at Madrid, anything that threatened to compromise that success was an extra and unnecessary opponent on the court.

But playing on the blue clay was an adjustment for everyone, not just Nadal, and the ways they all chose to attack that adjustment was evident in the tournament's outcome. At a certain point, there was nothing to be done. At a certain point, Nadal simply had to focus on adjusting rather than on complaining.

Failing to make that adjustment in focus is what did him in, not failing to adjust to the new clay.