Nadal slams Yannick Noah's doping slur on Spanish sport
Tennis champion defends his own sport from accusations after beating Mardy Fish in London tour finals
Rafa Nadal has branded comments made by former French tennis player Yannick Noah about doping as "stupid" on Sunday, saying they were the words of a "kid."
Writing about Spain's recent run of sporting triumphs in his Le Monde column, Noah asked: "How can a country dominate sport so much from one to day to the next?
"Today sport is a bit like Asterix at the Olympic Games," he said. "If you don't have the magic potion, it's difficult to win. And here it seems, like Obelix, they were the lucky ones who fell in the cauldron.
"Have they discovered coaching or training techniques and installations that nobody has thought of before? I've searched and found nothing registered or documented about any such innovations," Noah added.
Asked about Noah's comments at the ATP World Tour Finals where an ailing Nadal beat American Mardy Fish despite an upset stomach, the Spaniard was clearly angry.
"What's can I say? That's going to be difficult to explain what I feel in English," the 25-year-old 10-times Grand Slam-event champion told reporters.
"What he said is completely stupid and he knows better than nobody. To say that today is a totally stupid thing because you know how many anti-doping controls we are having during all the season year by year. So, in my opinion, his article, what he wrote, was from a kid. And when one kid say something, is not painful for us."
Earlier, Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and coach, has told Spain's SER radio network what he thought of Noah's accusations. "The thief thinks they are all like him," he said. "I am surprised that a person of dubious integrity dares to speak badly of Spanish sportsmen. I don't understand it at all."
Spain's number two tennis player David Ferrer also gave a caustic response to Noah's comments. "His son [Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls] plays in the NBA where there are no antidoping controls," said the world number five. "Maybe he is not the most suitable person to speak out."
Meanwhile, Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco called Noah "ignorant." "It is very difficult for ignorant people to understand the explosion of Spanish sport," he told Radio Marca.
