Rafael Nadal Was For Playing Tennis This Week Before He Was Against It

Rafa took to the microphones to decry tennis's crowded calendar: just four days ago he was in the US Open final, giving him little time to fly to Spain and prepare for today's Davis Cup match against Richard Gasquet.

He hinted at a strike if the schedule isn't made easier for players, threatening that "we might get to a place where we might not want to be." But before 2009, there wasn't any tennis this week. The week after the US Open was always a week off, until Nadal joined other top players in petitioning the ITF to move the Davis Cup round to this weekend. No takesies backsies. [ AP]