Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will continue their Acapulco campaigns during quarterfinal action on Thursday. Djokovic has an intriguing contest on his hands against Nick Kyrgios, while Nadal is a heavy favorite over Yoshihito Nishioka.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (6) Nick Kyrgios
Djokovic and Kyrgios will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle for a place in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel on Thursday. For a moment it looked like this showdown would pit Kyrgios against Juan Martin Del Potro, but Djokovic recovered from a break down in the third set to outlast the Argentine 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in an entertaining thriller that lasted two hours and 38 minutes on Wednesday night. The second-ranked Serb, who is bouncing back from a second-round Australian Open loss to Denis Istomin, preceded his victory over Del Potro by beating Martin Klizan 6-3, 7-6(4) on Tuesday.
Kyrgios’ trek to the last eight has been mostly straightforward, although he did drop his opening set of the week to Dudi Sela and managed to get into some controversy with Israeli fans. The 17th-ranked Australian ended up cruising past Sela 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 before defeating Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 in round two. Kyrgios will have to serve better than he did against Young (78 percent of first-serve points won, 55 percent of second-serve points one) if he has hopes of upsetting one of the best returners in the game.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
[polldaddy poll=9678981]
(Q) Yoshihito Nishioka vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal is showing no signs of any hangover in the aftermath of a brutal five-set loss to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, and that is putting it mildly. Not only has the sixth-ranked Spaniard won his first two matches in Acapulco, but he has also done so while dropping a total of nine games in four sets–including a 6-1, 6-1 beatdown of Paolo Lorenzi on Wednesday night. Nadal is now 12-0 lifetime at this tournament, although his first 10 victories (and two titles) came on clay courts.
Up next for the No. 2 seed on Thursday is a first-ever meeting with Nishioka, who has already picked up four victories this week. The world No. 86 from Japan earned a place in the main draw by beating Tobias Kamke and Ryan Harrison before getting the best of Jack Sock and Jordan Thompson. Nishioka has needed three sets in each of his last three wins, which will not help his chances given that he is a counter-puncher who will be scrambling all over the court against an opponent who has been playing encouragingly aggressive tennis in Acapulco.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
[polldaddy poll=9678523]
who ya got?
Rafa in two losing 3-4 games and Kyrgios in three
Kyrgios’ stats for the game against Sela are altered by that 1st set where he had eyes problems and was treated for that in every break.
Not relevant stats.
who said they were relevant?
I picked Nole to make the final and lose to Rafa.
But I wasn’t confident that Nole would make it that far. He could lose to Kyrgios.
Rafa in 2 easy sets.
Nishioka plays a bit like Ferrer. He is very quick around the court and good at retrieving balls from everywhere. Rafa should try and keep the points short and not try and counterpunch with him; also play lots of dtl shots.
finally some real predictions on a upset. I got djokovic to win but its about 65% chance at best. His form is not peaking.
Rafa should once again have an easy time of it with Nishioka, winning in 2 sets.
Novak and Kyrgios should be interesting. I expect that Kyrgios will be motivated for this match. He can be hit and miss depending on his mood, but if he comes out and plays the way he is capable of playing then we could have another great match.
Novak will have gotten a boost from his win over Delpo. I think this match will go 3 sets. My sense is that Novak will prevail.
Andy Murray should be a huge upset alarm his next match because he wasn’t playing top level and also he played 3 hour plus today. He might be very tired.
Cilic gets a WO as Johnson has an ankle injury.
For the past few weeks have only been able to watch the odd match here and there on catch up but did get to see Rafa v. Zeverev. Was alarmed when I saw his knee was bandaged. Does he have a recurrence of the knee tendonitis?
Just taped it prior to his first round match He felt something in warm ups.
#EmptySeats
#TBT
That’s reassuring. Thanks Hawkeye. Pray it stays that way.
Nishioka crushing Nadal in the early stages!
Anyone would. Rafa’s leaving too many balls short and too many UEs.
Rafa hitting short. He had a concerned look on his face before the match that made me wonder.
Maybe it’s the knee affecting him mentally if not physically.
Joker in straight, and Rafa in straight as well….and will TC show a replay of Kohl-Murray tb?…I hope so!
Please no injury, please!! he looks so underconfident today 🙁
Some good but very inconsistent, poor execution and not looking confident.
Seems to be slowly raising his game.
The commentating on the tennistv feed is horrible. Especially the woman. No clue. Just repeated rhetoric.
Nishioka playing Nishi’s game…Rafa reverts to his old style of play engaging in the long rallies, camping at the baseline and making way too many UEs. Rafa’s body does no longer allow him to play grueling matches, he should shorten points and approach the net more often!
Rafa should always have a plan B for the matches like these…
So today is the day this ‘rafa’ will turn up…i actually expect ‘him’ in the 1st round,knowing him not play tennis for weeks!..so,this ‘rafa’ is due actually…we all know,this ‘rafa’ also a part of the classic,amazing,incredible and 14 slams winner…and ‘they’ both will joined together soon and will find a way to win!That’s what i believe…insyaallah!..VAMOS RAFA!!!
Vintage 2015 Rafa.
true
This is how I worry about him playing vs Nole.
If he keeps this up, I won’t have to.
Switching off. So many unforced errors.
Poor tennis.
hang in there for the beginning of the second set hawks
Ok.
God he’s so frustrating.
Rafa is in crisis atm..and he’s trying to sort it out very hard..we can see it from his face very clearly…he’s thinking so hard!C’mon rafa!!U can do it!!
That’s his problem.
He thinks too much.
Yes!!!!!1 set in hand!!Rafa finally find a way to win..and that is enough for now!
Oh goodness! I totally forgot that Rafa’s match started earlier! So I tune in and see that he is in a TB! What on earth! With Nishioka?
At least he won it, but this is just shocking! I assume he is not playing well. Maybe it was just as well that I missed the first set!
Maybe now Rafa will take charge and get this second set and be done with it!
Hey I just noticed! No tape on Rafa’s knee!
Thank goodness!
Come on Rafa! This is Nishioka and you are Rafael Nadal!
Nny!!..Yeah,it’s a good thing u missed a whole lot of the 1st set…Our rafa forgot to bring his twin[vintage rafa of old-14 slam winner!]..instead he brought the 2015 vintage rafa![as hawkeye has stated]…but at least he bagged 1st set already!!That’s something!!
MA,
Yes, I think it’s best that I missed it! I would be freaking out all over the place!
I do not believe it! Break point for Nishioka!
?
Nny!!..yeah..you’re absolutely right!rafa is being sooooo uncharacteristically out of himself today…but talking about it only will make us more frustrated and angry…but i believe rafa is trying very hard atm to dig himself out from this crazy situation that he is in…but,u know what?I still believe that he still will win 2!!hehe….VAMOS RAFA!!
15-40
Break Rafa!
Is it a coincidence that he face this trouble when he play at 3:30pm?when the last 2 matches he played in the evening when the condition was a little bit cooler and humidity also not as high?And the result as we all know…was amazing!!I bet the ball also pretty much different compared to the evening/night?
MA,
You may have a point. But Rafa is usually really good at adjusting to the conditions. Maybe the humidity is worse earlier. It seems to be pretty bad at Acapulco.
MA,
Oh I believe Rafa will win in the end!
Rafa breaks!
?
Nny!!…I think rafa start to warming up to the condition really well now…and once again,is it a coincidence as soon as the sun goes down,he start to show more and more of the vintage rafa?Hmm interesting!hehe..and yeah Nny..rafa will make the young japanese crumble in the end!That’s what i still believe!..Yeah!vamos rafa!!
MA,
Well, Rafa had to struggle to consolidate the break. I just want him to get this done! He needs to hold serve for two more games!
Wow, it’s incredible that Nishioka made the QF. He gets to have a match v Rafa! And it appears he held his own for the first. This is big for Nishioka. He’ll be well inside the top 100 I think.
But no way is Nishioka winning.
so many bad UE off the forehand….annoying.
Insyaallah,he will do it Nny…we have to be patient okay?take a look at novak yesterday..great champion ALWAYS find a way to win!
Yes, but Rafa is missing shots he would make in his sleep. Forehand had been really off and even the backhand. Maybe just a bad day at the office for Rafa.
I hope so! he needs to improve big time for the next match.
break here and take it!!
Yes, end it now!
Okay, match point!
Go for it, Rafa!
Rafa is in the semis!
??❤️
Rafa will clean it up vs Cilic.
My WTA winner pick LOST, AM. And Ostapenko is losing to Tsurenko. That was a dumb pick – Ostapenko. But I have no way of watching WTA LIVE this week.
Really rc?I have to check mine!I forgot who i picked!hehe…but your ATP Dubai and Acapulco are ROCK rc!!!!Woooohooo!!
Btw…i pick Mladenovic for a winner here…not sure now she will win or not…she engaged in an epic classic with watson yesterday for 3 hours right rc?
Mladenovic got an easy win over Flipkens. Kiki is into the SF!
I wave bye-bye to you as you fly past ? 🙂
really rc?i will fly past u?What if one of my pick get eliminate too?
yes you will! Because you made the better picks. I picked Puig to win = bad. You picked Kiki, right? She’s looking great. And Tsurenko is stomping on Ostapenko – I have no way of watching WTA LIVE — just following scores.
What’s on right now (on Tennis Channel) is Sam Querrey absolutely stomping Thiem in their first set, 6-1. Not a pretty sight!
Yeah rc,not a pretty sight but Thiem seems to awake in the 2nd sets…sometimes it’s hardto contain with a servebot!
YES!!!!!WooooHooooo!!!Win at last!!!!yeah!!!That’s all that matters!!!woooohoooo!
What is going on with Thiem? Querrey just blew him away in that first set!
Nny…i don’t think there’s nothing wrong with Thiem…it’s just Querrey just have one of those days that everything he touch will turn to gold..and if we look at the tennis landscape these last week with Rog been dumped out by a 116th rank!..and Novak been given a very stern challenged by DelPo yesterday and Andy also had to save 7 match points against Philip?…so,i think i’m not surprised anymore with Thiem also been dumped out by Querry…and Thiem has played too much tennis these past month..i think it’s caught up with him..
Rafa is throught to SFs! ✌ Woot!
Great last game! 6-3! phewwww
We are right Nny!!Rafa will find a way to win!!!!I LOVE U RAFA!!!Woooohooo!!VAMOS!!!
Happy it’s over but that was a mess.
Move on and vamos.
Gonna have to step it up vs Cilic.
Nice to see ed and VR.
#CaptainObvious
great yo have you and NNY here discussing the match. Let’s hope he reverts to the level of previous rounds.
level he had in the previous rounds*
Is Ed here? I didn’t know that!
I am expecting Rafa to play better against Cilic. I didn’t know that he never played Nishioka.
I do think the earlier match time with more humid conditions may have played a part. I really believe that Rafa will get it together for Cilic.
Rafa match’s stats:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C59XMGdXQAIdOrS.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C59XOSxXQAA29un.jpg
I think Rafa will be fine with Cilic as he knows his game. This Jap guy ( can’t spell his name) is a lefty and first time opponent for Rafa. Rafa used to take quite a while to figure out first time opponents, and I think he also needed to adjust playing a fellow lefty. He seemed to be bothered by the humidity too imo, perspiring profusely and looked a bit slow too.
The good thing is he’s 13/13 at the net so he should move up to the net more often. The FH looked terrible, I was thinking was he trying to flatten it at times and then misfiring it into the net? He overhit or mushing his FH I guess due to poor timing as he was a bit slow in this match. Hopefully he will do better vs Cilic.
* mishit, not mushing!
** Japanese, not Jap guy!
Ha, Jap i.e. short form for Japanese!
kyrgios keeps on trying drop shots but the ball is bouncing high on this surface and it’s free points for novak everytime
Its typical of Kyrgios, hes bound to have some strange shot selections, he’s playing like its an exhibition rather than an actual tennis match.
Hes making life a lot easier for Djoko; unlike Delpo.
Urgh!!Multiple times Nick made a badddd decision!
Kyrgios choke? Finally! I thought he doesnt have any nerve or nervous moments!
Oho ho ho!..2 chances to take a 1st set gone!and nick saved it with aces everytime!!hehehe…
Yes!!!finally Nick!!
Wow! What a TB! Kyrgios gets the first set!
This is what I hoped would happen, that Kyrgios would come out serious and going for his shots. This is when I can appreciate his tennis. No drama, no nonsense, just playing inspired tennis!
Agree Nny!!We all know,if nick is serious with his tennis,then he will be very dangerous to anyone indeed!Let’s see whether he can sustain his 1st set high level into the 2nd…if he be able to stay with Novak in this set than he’s got a very good chance to make another upsets today…
MA,
Yes, the key is whether Kyrgios can keep it up. He is playing really outstanding tennis in this match.
Sometimes he makes a bone headed shot that seems to come out if nowhere. He also has a tendency to over hit his shots. But his groundstrokes are so powerful and his serve!
Agree Nny…from the look of thing,there’s a possibility that nick will make a big upsets today!He still didn’t drop his level so far…
Kyrgios better wins the first set at least; he choked while serving for it, making life more complicated for himself!
Phew! He finally wins it and he looks so happy about it! Good, that means he cares enough to want to beat Djoko to win the match.
Kyrgios is serving unbelievably well. This is why I picked him to take the title. He’s capable of this. I wish he could always produce this level. He’s really looked focus here and in Marseille. Come on Nick!!
Benny,
I hope you see this comment, because I wanted to congratulate you on staying with your conviction and picking Nik. I kind of hemmed and hawed in my pick, but did not come out and pick him, although in my gut I thought he could win, So all due credit to you!
??
Oh my God…i will be very afraid for rafa if this Nick who’s going to meet with him in semi!
wont be in the semis…..
Who Ricky?Nick?Are u sure?
Djokovic and Nadal are on opposite sides
Oh yeah Ricky!I forgot!They’re going to meet in final!Hehe..silly me!Sorry!
This Kyrgios, if hes serious with his tennis, he just has to improve on his ROS, and shot selections and stops all those unnecessary crazy exho stuffs during his matches.
He will then be perfect and the ultimate tennis player who’s closest to unbeatable that a tennis player can be. Not even Fed could match him imo.
Of course Luckystar….he can do and achieve many things IF he’s serious with his tennis!And that is a BIG IF!…If only he will listen to someone’s advice,if only he’s not too da@# hard headed and stubborn or if only he will train harder and spent as much time on court like his other rivals…and he achieved what we have witnessed without doing all those things!Unbelieveable!
There it is Nny!!A BIG UPSETS for today!And credits to the The Great Novak for giving us a very exciting match…
And congrats for Nick for his another big win…
Awesome performance. Kyrgios has beaten Nadal fed and djoker in his first meetings against them. Damn
Wow! So Nick Kyrgios beats Djoko! He has now beaten all the big three guys, but strange enough he keeps losing to Murray! Murray will be his next target to beat.
This is the first time Djokovic and Kyrgios have met.!
Rafa’s post match interview
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/video/nadal-discusses-nishioka-battle-in-acapulco-2017
I always liked Nick’s tennis and knew he was capable of taking any of the big four! It’s his head which has always been the problem, his lack of commitment and his spoiled brat attitude. He needs a serious coach who will have the authority over him and then it’s a sure thing for Nick to win a GS title soon.
As for Rafa, he was not on this planet in this match. He missed so many easy shots, he served 4 DFs, he was not positioned properly allowing the Japanese to push him back instead of vise versa…he must improve big for his next match! Rafa’s always in trouble with fast players tsking the ball early, maybe because he is no longer as fast as he used to be..,simply trying to outhit them without any change of plan is plain stupid thing to do as it takes too much energy from Rafa. In this match, almoust every time he approached the net Rafa was successful! He should do it more often! And it’s beautiful to watch those volleys…
Rafa is not stupid! Nishioka is not Kei, he hits very hard and prefers staying at the baseline and hitting the angles; Kei prefers taking the ball early and stepping forward, not unlike Goffin.
Nishioka is also a lefty so Rafa has to make adjustments too when playing him. Also, not forgetting Rafa was playing against him for the first time and so needed time to get used to him.
I also feel that the slightly earlier start had affected him a little bit, the windy conditions needed a bit of getting used to. Rafa was his usual old self when playing a player for the first time, i.e. tentative. He is a tactical player and can’t just jump out of that mold to suddenly be aggressive all the time and plays instinctively, which is something I wish he can change as he gets older and when his game has already reached such a level that it’s good enough for him to play without the need to think so hard all the time.
Lucky, good analysis.
No, Rafa made way too many UEs for his standards! Nothing to do with weather conditions, that’s just lame excuse..,Rafa knows he was not playing well and allowed Nishioka to outhit him at times..,hope he’ resolves his issues for Cilic…Cilic is well rested and Rafa has already had a lot of running for his fragile knee…also, Rafa was sweating like crazy…the humidity does make it harder for him but it’s not the reason he mishit a lot…hope Rafa gets more consistent at IW and Miami, because that’s what really matters..,
Rafa talked about the wind in his PM interview and you have also mentioned the humidity, so weather conditions may have played a part.
Yeah, weather conditions did no favor to Rafa but he has always been good in adapting his game…being broken twice due to his own errors where Nishioka had to do nothing spectacular is not caused by weather…I hope it was just a hiccup…Rafa never underestimates his opponents so thinking that playing Nishioka for the first time caught him by surprise does not make much sense…let’s see how Rafa handles Cilic and then we will know better where his current game stands.,,
So what do you think was the reason? He simply played poorly for no reason??
Do you know Cilic had to play two three setters to arrive at the QF? Talking about well rested!
So what?! In every GS one has to play three setters,the resting time is what matters and Cilic got a two day rest!
The reason for Rafa playing poorly can be that he might be bothered with his knee in a way that he is worried about aggravating another injury.,,it’s enough of distraction and may cause stress…or it’s one of his 2015 inconsistency patterns to play one match brilliantly and in another his game falls apart…I just wish Rafa could come up with different tactics when having difficulties instead of engaging in long rallies.., Moya should help in this, at least everyone expects him to propose some improvements in this regard…we shall see..,hopefuly Rafa’s bad day in the office is behind him and he returns to his better and more consistent self for Cilic.,,
What are you talking about? So now Rafa is so unfit that after playing a two hours match, he would be at a disadvantage in his next match just because his next round opponent has one more day rest? This is a BO3 event, not a slam. It’s not like Rafa was playing five setters after five setters! He had easy matches vs Mischa and Lorenzi!
If Rafa was worried about his knee, then why would he not taped it up before going on court? Don’t you think this is even more lame?
As I mentioned earlier, Rafa is a tactical player, not an instinctive player, he won’t change overnight even though we wish he could and would. When playing against a player for the first time, he has the tendency of taking his time to figure things out. It happened that Nishioka came out all guns blazing, not allowing much chances for Rafa to impose his more aggressive game even if Rafa wished to.
Just watch his matches vs Mischa and Lorenzi, both of whom he had played against before this event, and see how well Rafa could impose his game. This is not the 2015 Rafa, that Rafa might have lost this match; Rafa was trying the best he could out there despite losing serves and whatever (some bad line calls too), and he stayed calm and finally raised his game to weather the storm to win in the end.
I really don’t see why the negativity; he at least won in straight sets. Fed despite playing reasonably well, having MPs, and was 5-1 up in the final set TB and yet still lost the match. Murray the no.1 player, struggled through his match, almost got knocked out facing 7 MPs. Djoko despite serving well and playing well, couldn’t counter Kygrios huge serve, played one bad service game and lost the match. Rafa at least won without losing a set.
Yeah, we all hope he will raise his level when playing against Cilic. I think he will, he knows what to expect from Cilic.
Nats, I think you are making far too much of the fact that Rafa did not sail through winning 1:1 as expected. Rafa says he was going for winners too soon in the rally because he knows Nish is quick around the court so he played some very bad service games and made lots of errors but he righted the ship and won in the end.
It’s always difficult to play someone with nothing to lose for the first time because they can just go for itand you have to work out your tactics as you go along. Federer said part of his problem against Donskoy was not knowing enough about his style of play.
Natashao (AT 10:43 AM),
Cilic got an one day rest. He played Coric on Wednesday.
You make a good point Lucky.
Same reason Fed gave partly for his loss is that he hadn’t played Donskoy before and didn’t know his game.
@ lucky 11:12 am,
No, you missed my point about Rafa engaging in the long rallies! It’s not his fitness I am worried about, he is probably the fittest guy on tour, but it’s his knee and something he felt which may have caused concerns. When he injured the wrist he continued playing hoping it would go away and we know what happened! I was only hopeful of Rafa finishing Nishioka’ s match easily to avoid putting too much pressure in his knees..,
And one more thing, Nishioka is mediocre player and produced nothing special last might! If it were not for Rafa playing bellow his own standards he would have been destroyed out there…
As I said earlier, Kyrgios needs to improve his ROS, also his shot selection. I think these will improve over time as he matures and gets more serious with his tennis and gaining experiences along the way. He’s the new age tennis player in the making, an upgraded and even better version of those past or current legends. He has speed, power, skills, varieties, all he needs now is the right mindset, to become a tennis great. He doesn’t have weakness in his game, it’s his mentality that’s the major stumbling block.
Delpo may have his raw power but not the speed of Kygrios. The big four have everything except that they can be overpowered by big hitters; and Kygrios is no ordinary big hitter. When he’s serious, he’s not missing anything and Djoko in this match was the victim despite playing well and serving well.
As I said after Kyrgios beat Rafa, he’s the real deal.
But only if he gets his head fixed and finds consistency.
He can blow at anytime. He was yelling and cursing at fans in his first round win over Sela.
I don’t remember if anyone said anything when Kyrgios knocked Fed out of the 2015 Madrid Masters.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/madrid-open-2015-roger-federer-knocked-out-in-shock-defeat-to-young-australian-talent-nick-kyrgios-10231199.html
That was later. But he really officially announced himself as a potential “real deal” with that unexpected win in 2014.
And yes, I’m pretty sure many here made many comments with that 2015 win. But it was not a slam and it wasn’t his first Big 4 win.
hawkeye63 MAY 6, 2015 AT 7:38 PM
I knew Kyrgios would win.
Wow.
#RealDeal
nadline10 MAY 6, 2015 AT 7:38 PM
Fed played a terrible match. That will give Rafa a rest with the commies; they can now go on and on about Fed’s loss of form.
Ricky MAY 6, 2015 AT 7:39 PM
that will never happen
hawkeye63 MAY 6, 2015 AT 7:42 PM
No. It won’t.
AT 3:25 PM,
Ricy was right on MAY 6, 2015 AT 7:39 PM.
what did I say
AT 3:47 PM
Yes and I agreed with Ricy on MAY 6, 2015 AT 7:42 PM.
Augusta, any idea on the split between Rafa’s UEs in the first and second set? While he made a lot of errors, I’m thinking he made less errors on average per game in the second as his level began to improve.
I meant AT 1:12 PM that commentators tend to keep quiet over Fed’s loss/losses.
Yeah. They definitely do.
Annabel Croft was particularly annoying in Rafa’s match last night. She makes obvious comments and adds nothing useful to the commentary.
Every Nadal match is about what the player should be doing to beat him and every Fed match is fawning about his talent, and what fed needs to to to beat his opponent.
If I could mute them and not the sounds of the crowd and the match, I would.
On some of the TennisTv feeds, there is sometimes an alternate feed with no commentary which I sometimes use if the commentators are annoying.
David Mercer is doing Dubai and he is equally as horrid.
AT 3:58 PM,
Rafa’s 1st set stats:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6AclZ6WYAEmLqW.jpg
Thanks. Not a big difference between first and second set UEs from a per game perspective.
It seemed to me he definitely played better.
Nick Kyrgios stuns Roger Federer on wild day at the Madrid Open
As tennis looks to the future and the prospect of an ATP Tour without the Big Four, Kyrgios has emerged as a player you want to watch. No young player is as polarizing as the flashy, volatile, shot-making Aussie. His talent is undeniable.
http://www.si.com/tennis/2015/05/06/nick-kyrgios-beats-roger-federer-madrid-open-results
Federer falls under Kyrgios spell in Madrid exit
Roger Federer became the latest member of the “Big Four” to get sucked up by a whirlwind called Nick Kyrgios as the Australian tyro sent the Swiss top seed spinning out of the Madrid Masters in the second round on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tennis-men-madrid-idUSKBN0NR2GN20150506
Lucky is right IMO.
I watched Fed’s loss last night and because he didn’t know Donskoy’s game, it unsettled him big time and he ended up making many unforced errors like Rafa did.
Big difference is, Rafa improved throughout the match (not perfect by any stretch) and won in straight sets.
Can’t see how it was the knee as he didn’t have the wrap.
And Rafa is historically nervous about playing opponents for the first time.
We’ll know tonight against Cilic with whom he’s familiar. Hoping he can impose his game the way he’s done many times this year (and last year before he was hurt).
hawks,
you seem to contradict yourself…you yourself said Rafa had a concerned look on his face and you suspected it might be his knee affecting him mentally…
https://tenngrand.com/2017/03/02/acapulco-qf-previews-and-predictions-djokovic-vs-kyrgios-nadal-vs-nishioka/comment-page-1/#comment-252387
Yeah I did at the time during the match. I hadn’t noticed at that point either that the wrap was gone either. But I’ve reconsidered after lucky wrote her post, it made a lot more sense to me. I do take others thoughts into consideration when they are thoughts that I hadn’t previously considered.
Fed had the same issue against Donskoy and I think it played a part in Nole’s loss but in this case Kyrgios’ level of play was probably the biggest. Had Nole played him before, given the closeness of the match, he might have been in position to make better adjustments. Or not.
well, Fed leading 5:1 in the tiebreak and still managing to lose I say it is not only Donskoy playing lights out tennis, but rather Fed not playing at the right level…in case of Rafa, Nishioka played ok but nothing special and Rafa played poorly from the very beginning, it’s not as Japanese forced him to make errors…
anyway, I hope it is all gone now and he will show up strong against Cilic…
Well I disagree. I think while neither Donskoy nor Nishioka played lights out, they played at a very high level for them and enough to pressure their respective opponents who both struggled with unfamiliar opponents.
Rafa always gets nervous against new opponents so was probably on his mind from the get go.
That’s why I said we should know when he plays Cilic of whom he is familiar.
@ nadline 11:20 am,
You are probably right! I expected Rafa to deal with Nishioka in a better manner thus being able to save his knees from additional stress. All I want is Rafa saving himself for bigger events and more dangerous opponents. I am SO worried about him aggravating injury at this point when he is clearly on the upper path with his game and fitness back on the right level.
I am also cautious about assessing Rafa’s game because every time in the past three years I though our Rafa was back he would go and lose when I least expected it…I still mourn over the AO final which Rafa should have won…
I too expected him to win easily but I’m relieved that he righted the ship. I was looking forward to his explanation about the way the match started, almost as if he was nervous to play this guy, for reasons best known to himself. Rafa ought to grow a bit of swagger and believe in himself more. The other top guys believe they can beat anyone but Rafa always shows his opponents too much respect.
I think all his fans are playing the long game, not getting too carried away with every glimmer of light on his form, but I’m more hopeful now because I know his bad form in the last few years is due to injury.
Djoker’s presser lasted 24 seconds
(How did you feel)
“not great”
“He has a big serve, he deserved to win. Congrats.”
“That’s it.”
http://www.abiertomexicanodetenis.com/audios/2017/conferencia_Ndjokovic_Mar_02.m4a
In his on court interview, you can tell Rafa was unsatisfied with his play.
He brought up his opponent playing well and the windy conditions. He said it in such a way that while he thought they were factors that made it worse, it really came down to his level.
“It’s true that I played not that well **like this before** but for me so important to keep winning when I’m not playing my best…”
But more interesting and this is something new when Rafa says about his next opponent…
“Well he is one of the best players of the world without a doubt no? I am excited to play this match tomorrow.”
and significantly…
“I need to play a great level of tennis if I want to have chances and that is what I’m going to try.”
Rafa has always said the same before his match.
exactly!
It. Was. A. Joke.
Hawkeye,
??