Toni Nadal recently spoke out against the lack of tactics used in modern tennis.
The Spaniard believes a change to smaller rackets would encourage a more tactical game.
“To change tennis, I would propose playing with a smaller racket. Nowadays, most matches are based on hitting as hard as possible, and there’s no tactic against it,” Nadal told ‘Radio Estado Noche‘ (translated from Spanish).
Who will win the 2026 Italian Open?
A stacked field in Rome!
Emma Raducanu’s former coach, Mark Petchey, agrees with Nadal.
Mark Petchey calls for ‘limitations’ on tennis equipment in reaction to Toni Nadal’s comments
During the latest episode of ‘The Big T Podcast‘, Petchey shared his thoughts on Nadal’s comments.
“We see Toni Nadal talking today, we need to get smaller heads, we need to create more tactics in the game,” said Petchey.
“I do tend to agree with him that there could probably be a limitation to some of the equipment these days.
“It’s talked about in golf with the golf ball, trying to make it a little shorter, makes it a little tougher.
“I think that’s a wider debate.”
Petchey brought up Nadal’s comments when discussing the future of Stefanos Tsitsipas, the former world number three.
“He should have beaten Casper [Ruud] in Madrid,” said Petchey.
- 2026 Madrid Open 4R – Casper Ruud defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-7, 7-6, 7-6
“When I watched him play in Miami with the other stick, it was too powerful for him.
“We talk about power in the game all the time, everyone wants to go to that Aero, everyone wants to crack it.”
Petchey believes Tsitsipas should stick with the racket he is currently using, and was impressed with his tactical approach in Madrid.
“I liked the way that he’s suddenly gone back to his strength, serve and plus-one was always Stef’s way to play,” he said.
“Do I think he can return better on the backhand side?
“I absolutely do.
“I’m a big proponent of him trying to start with a backhand grip, and I do think that the backhand can get better, and I still haven’t lost faith in it.
“So for me, 100%, I liked the way he played, I believe he is only going to get better from here.”
Tsitsipas has only played one tour-level quarter-final this year, at the Qatar Open, where he lost to Andrey Rublev.
He made a particularly worrying start to his clay-court campaign, losing his opening matches in Monte Carlo and Munich, before bouncing back in Madrid.
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ 2026 results (14-10)
| Tournament | Performance | Match wins |
| United Cup | Quarter-final | 3 (Shintaro Mochizuki, Billy Harris, Taylor Fritz) |
| Adelaide International | First round | 0 |
| Australian Open | Second round | 1 (Shintaro Mochizuki) |
| Rotterdam Open | Second round | 1 (Arthur Rinderknech) |
| Qatar Open | Quarter-final | 2 (Moez Echargui, Daniil Medvedev) |
| Dubai Tennis Championships | First round | 0 |
| Indian Wells | First round | 0 |
| Miami Open | Third round | 2 (Arthur Fery, Alex de Minaur) |
| Monte Carlo Masters | First round | 0 |
| Munich Open | First round | 0 |
| Madrid Open | Fourth round | 3 (Patrick Kypson, Alexander Bublik, Daniel Merida) |
The Greek won three matches at an event for just the second time this year, and narrowly missed out on a place in the quarters.
Having once been ranked as high as third in the world, a match away from becoming world number one, Tsitsipas now sits 75th in the ATP Rankings.
Official ATP Rankings
- 70th – Miomir Kecmanovic (795 points)
- 71st – Valentin Royer (788 points)
- 72nd – Juan Manuel Cerundolo (776 points)
- 73rd – Arthur Cazaux (770 points)
- 74th – Reilly Opelka (768 points)
- 75th – Stefanos Tsitsipas (765 points)
- 76th – Kamil Majchrzak (747 points)
- 77th – Marcos Giron (745 points)
- 78th – Marco Trungelliti (743 points)
- 79th – Dino Prizmic (740 points)
- 80th – Mattia Bellucci (737 points)
Petchey believes he can turn things around, but only time will tell…
Could Stefanos Tsitsipas be a dark horse to win the French Open?
There aren’t many players in this year’s French Open field who have been to the final.
Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka are the only two former champions, while Tsitsipas, Ruud, Jannik Sinner, and Alexander Zverev are the four runners-up set to compete.
Tsitsipas led Djokovic by two sets to love in the 2021 French Open final, but lost in five, and has never returned to the showpiece match in Paris.
Last year, Tsitsipas lost in the second round to Italy’s Matteo Gigante.
Form would suggest that the Greek stands little to no chance of winning the title, but if he can battle his way through to the second week, you never know…
The 2026 French Open begins on Sunday, May 24.
