Rafael Nadal will kick off his Indian Wells campaign against wild card Jared Donaldson on Sunday. Steve Johnson is coming off a solid win over fellow American Taylor Fritz and will face Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
(WC) Jared Donaldson vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal has played just two matches since finishing runner-up at the Australian Open as he heads into the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The second-ranked Spaniard’s draw looks a lot better than it did in Acapulco, so he should be able to get a whole lot more matches under his belt. Nadal, who lost to eventual champion Nick Kyrgios during second-round action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, follows up an opening bye with a second-round contest against Donaldson on Sunday evening.
Their only previous encounter came two years ago at the Shanghai Masters, where Nadal coasted 6-2, 6-1. Donaldson proceeded to miss much of 2018 due to a knee injury; in fact, prior to this fortnight he had not won a match of any kind since Washington, D.C. last summer. The 192nd-ranked American, who lost recent openers in Delray Beach and at the Indian Wells Challenger, defeated qualifier Tatsuma Ito 6-3, 7-5 on Friday. A massive step up in competition should bring about a swift end to what will still go down as an encouraging week for Donaldson.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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(24) Denis Shapovalov vs. Steve Johnson
Shapovalov and Johnson will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Sunday. Not unlike the case with Donaldson, it has already been a successful week for Johnson. The 38th-ranked American had been on a ridiculous nine-match losing streak dating back to the U.S. Open prior to the recent February swing. He mercifully advanced to the Delray Beach quarterfinals (lost to eventual champion Radu Albot) and the Acapulco second round (lost to Stan Wawrinka) before beating Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-3 on Friday in Indian Wells.
February was similarly solid but unspectacular for Shapovalov, who advanced to quarterfinals in Montpellier and Rotterdam before falling right away in Montpellier at the hands of Mikhail Kukushkin. A move to a much bigger stage should only benefit the 25th-ranked Canadian, who has generally flourished in the limelight. In seven previous trips to Indian Wells, meanwhile, Johnson won multiple matches only once. He has a decent chance to accomplish the feat again, but his relatively lackluster current form probably means Shapovalov will be too tough.
Pick: Shapovalov in 2
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WWW?
Nadal and Shapovalov both in 2
Nadal in 2, losing 5-7. Shapo in 2, although I would not be surprised if he needs 3.
I think Steve can get a set. Nadal in 2, Shapo in 3
Keep your mind focused, stay confident and enjoy the game, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1UwtHDXgAAxipD.jpg
And enjoy the golf,Rafa
Nice to see Rafa at I/W.
Go for it!
Rafa came out not serving very well. But he is up a break. I think he’s loosening up a bit now.
Rafa is serving better now and really hitting his shots. This should be an easy match for Rafa to get his feet under him.
Rafa gets the easy win 6-1, 6-1. Schwartzman will be tougher.
Nice first match for Rafa. He seemed to be enjoying himself since Jared was willing to try rallying with him. I know I enjoyed it, always fun to see Rafa running around the court out-thinking and out-hitting his rival. Doubt Moya approved tho’. First serve awol in first set and he wasn’t doing much of the serve +1 thing.
So Fed invited Rafa over for coffee earlier to talk about the ATP’s future. H’mmm, why am I thinking Gunfight at the OK Corral? Djokovic and Isner, etc as the Clantons, Roger as Wyatt Earp and Rafa as Doc Holiday?
Rafa has only 35% first serves in for the first set. But he seemed to serve much better in the second set, a few aces in there. He seemed to reading Donakdson’s serve really well. He was always in control and his backhand looked sharp.
Serving still predictable. Returns from standing way back. not hitting the angles soon enough or finding corners. Hitting short balls… I see Nadal at best scrape a few mins against lesser players with their unforced errors ( perhaps due to Nadals heaviness) on hard courts.
I dont see him having much chances unless he learns to be aggressive on the returns standing close the baseline and hitting deep enough with enough angles early on in the rallies. Djokovic would eat them up these short balls or mid court ones.. Oh well.. getting to finals .. Djokovic….thats too distant at the moment.
PK…I didn’t watch Rafa’s match today…but,really appreciates your opinion on Rafa’s game…Thanks!
And judging from your analysis,i tend to agree with what u said PK…coz it’s sounds very familiar…i wonder why Rafa didn’t play his AO game that made us Rafans & everyone else droolin’ non stop?(that’s me!hehe)…What brought this change of play back to his conventional style?Maybe Lucky @ other experts have an opinion about it?
Mira, Honestly I did not watch the match either. I dont watch his games live. Cant deal with my elevated heart rates and pressure anymore. I see his highlights and try to assess where his game is at.
Maybe I am more worried than I should be. But I am not convinced with his court positioning during rallies and ROS. Maybe he was mixing it up but I still do not see any reasoning he should even try to stand way back on his returns against a non top 100 player. Its not like an Isner or Karlovic or a Kyrgios on the other end. For all I know, even with them, I would love to see him returning like he did ’13. Makes a heck of a differene on hard courts.
I look at the below highlights and for me to see his “Down the line” pass land almost in the middle of the court.. I wonder what Haas was shaking his head for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtbehdoAF_Q
To me, he was in a good place at the Aussie and I think the finals loss was ugly and will certainly affect him for a while. He needs wins for his confidence and Acapulco didnt help. I know he has everything in him to be the monster he can be for the next couple years, but he needs to believe and bring it in his game and patterns than relying on winning streaks and titles.
I dont expect him to win everything, but at this point in his career, its all about adding titles while he can.
I am looking forward to other perspectives on here from Lucky you and everyone else.
PK, if you didn’t watch, why you came out with such negative comments??
Rafa played well for his first match; his first serve wasn’t firing well in the first set but he still won it 6-1! It got better in set two and his game came together well enough for him to win comfortably.
As to why he’s not standing close to baseline to return serves, do note that this is IW, not AO – the ball here bounces higher than normal HCs, Rafa may feel that he’s giving himself enough time to take a big swipe at the ball when returning serves? Who knows, he’s playing it like it’s on clay because of the high bounce?
He only got in 35% of his first serve in set one, so even if he wanted to play that serve plus FH first strike tennis, he couldn’t do so! He’s grinding a bit during the match, as long as he didn’t overdo it, and doesn’t overdo it in his coming matches, I feel it’s ok, because the courts here really don’t reward aggressive tennis but more the baseline tennis.
Anyway, Rafa needs to polish his baseline tennis a bit more as he didn’t have a chance to do so since last year USO. He needs both his baseline and his more offensive game to work well together if he wants to beat Djoko when they meet.
PS. That YouTube video, Rafa was amazing with his backward overhead pass, and then followed by his amazing passing shot from the baseline that had Haas shaking his head in disbelief.
lucky,
Thank you! You said exactly what I was going to say after reading comments from someone who did not even watch the match!
Rafa struggled with his serve as I said in my comment above during the match. I thought Rafa was a bit rusty in the early going. It was obvious that Donaldson was not going to trouble Rafa, coming back from an injury. But I did think that Rafa served a lot better in the second set. He started getting the feel of his shots asxthe game went on. Rafa has not played much since the AO. He did not get what he needed at Acapulco. Now he needs to try and string together some wins to get himself going. Rafa is not going to come out playing master class tennis in his first match here.
I expect he will get a tougher match from Diego.
One of the reasons I come on here is to read the support and perspectives of all the Rafans out here. I noticed this thread wasnt as active and I am glad it is now and have some detailed analysis on Rafas performance.
A little background on myself. I somehow end up jinxing Nadal when I watch his matches ( yes I seem to have that “power” :).. Watched Wimbledon scores on my mobile, the 0-40s only to see him lose. Couldnt resist 2017 Aus final last set, him being on the lead watching him lose. Somehow coudlnt resist tracking his score on Kyrgios on a tight on serve third set only to find out later he actually had 3 set points in the TB).
Waking up to see Nadal holding the 2013 USO trophy winning against Djokovic was the sweetest surprise of my life. Didnt quite expect when I nervously looked up the news.
Now its fair, its not too fair to comment on something I didnt watch. but tennis is not a complex sport. In Nadals own words.. its not complicated. Although the margins are slim. Scorelines do not reflect the ease or the domination. and even with the best of players its about the few balls/points going their way. Even Djokovic played a 7-6 first set against No 128. That isnt new. but we all know the likelihood of Djokovic losing was bare minimal
Now as to the actual patterns in my opinion. Returning from deep works when infact his returns get deep and often against lesser players, even the slightly shorter ones neutralize the serve and gives him the opportunity to rally. Its quite simple. YOu either change directions make your opponent run or in Nadals case you run. Nadals deep positioned returns are rarely aggressive. its almost like putting the ball back in play. Works with most players, not with the top ones anymore.
Nadal has the game, the skill, the capability to serve decent, hit deep, change directions but instead chooses to play to the middle more often than not.and when it gets tight his balls get shorter and he runs and gets pushed back ( against aggresive consistent players)
Its not me being negative as much as concerned and frustrated he has the game and just wont play it. Being aggressive is not just about when you get comfortable, play a few matches or get in the lead. You dont have that time with Djokovic. He needs to bring it sooner.
Seriously who would doublefault in the penultimate point in a Tie break tens exhibition. It was his tournament and he should be winning it.
Anyway I am more than happy to eat my words, if he gets back to winning hard court masters, stays ahead and finishes ahead of Djokovic in the Slams. Just a desperate fan hoping wishing and praying for my man to go out big.
Thanks guys. Hope you understand parts of where I am coming from.
I suggest you go and watch the full match and see for yourself how he played. It’s nothing like what you’ve described his game. There’s no need for us to argue or disagree here, just see for yourself.
BTW, his ROS figures are impressive, nothing like what you described.
Agreed. Will do. Hopefully he goes deep and perhaps even wins this. And we will be exchanging happy satisfying comments on here.
Again. Appreciate all the feedback from each of you.
Oh and BTW I wasnt necessarily disagreeing or arguing to any of what you guys said. Cheers!
I am no expert but I think Rafa was enjoying himself out there, playing circles around an opponent he could beat in his sleep. As Rafa said after his AO final he NEEDS his all court defensive game to compete with the best. And clay is coming very soon now.
Re the ROS, Rafa was absolutely smoking returns after the first game or two. He was reading Jared’s serve very well. Yes, Rafa could not find his first serve in the first set, but he did in the 2nd.
And, oh yeah, I watched the match live. Life’s short and Rafa’s tennis life is pretty short now. Can’t afford to miss this any more.
I Dont know who hes playing next but hes not playing Djokovic, so lets leave him out of the equation ….
Understood. He plays Diego next who isnt going to make easy unforced errors. So all I foresee is a tough grind irrespective of the scoreline and win / loss
It just sucks to see him continue to play the patterns which isnt really helping him move forward with his game while he can.
I do know that once he is on clay, he gets a better rythm and more often he plays with his groundstrokes landing closer to the baseline..and thats until he gets into a tight tough opponent.
Schwartz won’t be an easy opponent of course; he always plays hard and pushes everyone to the limit, even Djoko had a hard time beating him in the past. I expect a lot of baseline tennis and long rallies on the slow court, but hopefully Rafa plays better than Schwartz to beat him.
Rafa didn’t serve well and he was pissed about it. Hopefully he improves his first serve in his next match! He was moving well, placed some beautiful FH winners…his opponent tried hitting hard but Rafa neutralized his balls. However, Rafa didn’t have to work hard for this one…Let’s see how he performs in his next match…
Vamos Champ!
There is a danger in over analyzing the first match in a tournament. I do think it is important to watch the match in its entirety to get the flow of the game and the ups and downs and strategy and overall level of play.
It’s not about arguing or getting upset with anyone. It is simply best to discuss a match after actually watching it. Highlights do not accurately give the full picture. That is why they are called highlights.
Rafa has to play to court conditions. If the backs are high bouncing at I/W, then Rafa would have to adjust his court positioning accordingly. Dissecting this first match against an opponent who really could not challenge Rafa, is kind of pointless. Rafa is not yet facing Novak. He does not have to be at his best. He needs to win matches.
Rafa will have a much tougher match with Diego. I am going to wait and see how he plays. That may tell us more about where he is at.
If the BALLS are bouncing high! *
NNY completely agree, lets think about Novak if or when he faces him, not arguing with anyone either, but people read to much into every match he plays, its not like Novak himself doesnt have to get through a field of players, yet him winning is always seen as been a sure thing, hope your well by the way 🙂
Alison,
I meant to respond earlier in support of your comments. I absolutely agree that we should not think about Novak until Rafa has to face him in the final.
Rafa did not have to play brilliant tennis to beat Donaldson. I said that he was seeing the call really well and was able to read Donaldson’s serve very well. He returned extremely well in the match. I said that he seemed a bit rusty since he has not played basically since the AO. He only had two matches in Acapulco.
Rafa was never going to be challenged in this match. He did not have to play his best. As far as court positioning, I think lucky made the point that it depends on the court conditions. Rafa did not have to play extremely aggressive because he could beat Donaldson on the baseline. If he hit some short balls in the middle of the court, Donaldson was not going to be able to hurt him.
It was a good first match from Rafa. He won and moves on. Enough said!
Cheers to you, great to see you here with your good common sense. Hope all is well with you. 😀
Rafa was seeing the BALL very well. *
No mention of the other match with Shapo
Yeah.. Shapo v Johnson and is old news now, Big Al. It’s Shapo v Cilic tomorrow.
God, I am so happy Belinda Bencic keeps winning 😀 even though I quite like Alexandrova. Tennis Channel didn’t show it. The match I most want to see is Osaka v Collins. I think I might get to see it, too. Tennis Channel bothers me. They don’t show enough WTA (no one in America but me cares, I get it)
Watching FAA vs Nishioka – I shouldn’t complain. It’s wonderful tennis!
Waves to RC too, hope your well xx 🙂
Thanks NNY 🙂
Waves to RC too hope your well 🙂
why do my posts keep dissapearing ?
dunno
Hi everybody. Have just returned home after sunning myself for the past seven weeks on the Costa del Sol – which is the reason why I haven’t posted here very much. Thrilled to see Rafa fit and well and kicking ass as I speak.
And we are thrilled to see you fit and well and kicking ass, so to speak. 🙂 Been wondering where you’d disappeared to. Costa del Sol, eh? Sweet! I am sure Rafa would approve.
Vamos Rafa! He was looking good while running around in the sun today.