Tennis News: Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins

Rafael Nadal has only committed to one event in the future and that is the Laver Cup. He seems almost sure to miss the US Open, though. He might not want to play so many clay-court tournaments and then take the time needed to prepare for the hard-court Grand Slam in late August.

The question many tennis fans might be asking themselves, though, is if Nadal plans on going out the same way Roger Federer did and making the Laver Cup his last professional event ever. Heck, maybe the Spaniard even invited Federer back to play doubles with him at the event just as Federer asked Nadal in 2022. The Swiss has said he would play if asked.

Nadal finished his Olympic run in singles by losing to Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the second round. The Spaniard made it to the quarterfinals in doubles with partner Carlos Alcaraz before falling in straight sets.

Rafael Nadal discusses Olympic loss and Danielle Collins discusses spat with Iga Swiatek

After the match, Nadal addressed several topics in his press conference. As far as playing in the US Open, Nadal seemed doubtful but not ready to say whether he will not play yet. He said, "It looks like not but I’m going to let you know soon. For me now, I can’t give you a clear answer, I need some time. But for me, it looks difficult."

As far as future plans, Nadal said, "(W)hen I have decided what my next step is, whether with a racket in my hand or without, I will let you know. If I don’t have the desire, strength, or motivation to continue, I will hang up my racket."

In other odder news, Summer seems to be the season for spats. Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev had one as well as Emma Navarro and Zheng Qinwen. As it turns out, so did Danielle Collins and Iga Swiatek during and after Swiatek's quarterfinal victory over the American.

During the match, Collins told Swiatek to "play at the server’s pace" after Swiatek had held up her racket to imply she wasn't ready to receive the serve. The Pole has a habit of doing this. Normally, players react to the server's pace so Swiatek appeared to be going against tennis decorum. (Swiatek lost in the semifinals to Zheng Qinwen.)

After the match ended early due to an injury to Collins in the third set, Collins had a few words with Swiatek and told the Pole to stop being "insincere."

In her post-match press conference, Collins said, "I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about, you know, my injury. There’s a lot that happens on camera, and there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma and come out and are one way on camera and another way in the locker room. And I just haven’t had the best experience, and I don’t really feel like anybody needs to be insincere."

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