Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will lead their respective countries into ATP Cup quarterfinal action on Friday. Djokovic is going up against Denis Shapovalov, while Nadal faces familiar foe David Goffin.
Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
Seven of the eight ATP Cup quarterfinal teams are the same as they were in the 2019 Davis Cup two months ago, both Serbia and Canada included. The Canadians–who finished runner-up in Madrid–needed plenty of help to get here, but the fact they were on thin ice was no fault of Shapovalov’s. He went 2-1 in singles against Stefanos Tsitsipas (win), Alex de Minaur (loss), and Alexander Zverev (win) to go along with an essential doubles victory over Germany with Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The world No. 14’s tough sledding continues in the form of a fifth career contest against Djokovic on Friday. Djokovic is sweeping the head-to-head series 4-0 overall with a dominant 9-1 record in total sets. No set has been more competitive than 6-4. The second-ranked Serb appears to be up to his usual tricks Down Under, having picked up straight-set round-robin victories at the expense of Kevin Anderson, Gael Monfils, and Christian Garin. This should be an extremely entertaining but mostly one-sided showdown.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 with no tiebreakers
[crowdsignal poll=10488229]
Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. David Goffin (BEL)
Nadal and Goffin will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers on Friday. The 33-year-old Spaniard leads the head-to-head series 4-1, although Goffin won their only previous hard-court meeting 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals (Nadal was far less than 100 percent due to a knee injury.
This time around, the world No. 1 is healthy, well-rested, and in fine form. So far at the ATP Cup he has defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili, Pablo Cuevas, and Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets. Goffin owns a 2-1 record (beat Radu Albot and Grigor Dimitrov, lost to Dan Evans). The 11th-ranked Belgian has been blown out by Nadal only twice in five matchups, so this could be at least somewhat competitive.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 8-10 games
[crowdsignal poll=10488225]
WYG?
Rafa in 2, losing 8-10 games
Djokovic will have to go 3 as Shapo took the 1st set, but I expect he’ll get it done. Even if he loses since Serbia won the 1st match I expect they’ll win the dubs. FAA has been perfect in the ATP Cup – perfectly useless.
Hahaha…..Agree Ramara bout FAA!….Perfectly useless!
And Shapo too must be knock his head on the wall after this coz failed to capitalized his multiple BP’s earlier in the 2nd sets…and look like to lost this sets too..
Shapo’s putting up a fight in the 3rd. It’s 5 all but I’m going to bed since I don’t care that much who wins. Gotta be fresh for Spain in the morning! G’night dear MA.
Ohh bed already Ramara? Okay!….Don’t forget to wake up early for our Rafa Ramara!…Wooohooo!!….
Have a goooood nite sleep k??😴👍😚
Shapo didn’t win that important point in the TB when he’s 2-4 down, playing a lousy BH DTL that went way out. If it was Rafa, I bet he would move his legs quick enough to hit his FH instead. Had Shapo won that point he would have a chance to go 5-4 or 6-5 later on in the TB, but that’s Shapo (much like Tsitsipas), relies heavily on their SHBH (what’s the point of looking flamboyant with that BH but makes so many errors on crucial points!??).
Djoko barely survived against Shapo, a bigger test when facing Medvedev in the SF?
Shapovalov could probably benefit from some meditation; doub’t creeps into his game during his follow-through and he freezes for a second and ends up shanking shots from a dominant position. The good players like Djokovic know his weakness from a mile away and it’s a major advantage knowing your opponent will most likely hit an unforced error if you simply keep the ball in play.
Shapovalov needs to spend the next few years working on his head more than anything. Forget working on improving his ball striking, he’s already got that covered—his head is is Achilles’ heel. The amount of matches he throws away because doubt creeps into his head when his about the hit the ball is disturbing.
I find watching Nadal play doubles quite amusing; he such a sole competitor and likes the limelight all on him that it doesnt look right. Wen Careno Busta was celebrating shots, nada was like dont come to me an celebrate get on the other side of the net where you belong so I can kick your arse.
Rafa really playing poorly by his standard! He’s facing so many BPs, and when he had BPs against Goffin, he squandered all of them!
He’s not serving well at all, hows he going to win against the TOP players?? What happened to his great serve of DC? Is it because that’s indoors, so wind to affect his serve that’s why he could serve so well? Now that it’s outdoors, he’s affected by the elements?
I mean *no wind to affect his serve.
Luckily Agut won his match, so Spain still has a chance even if Rafa loses this match.
How’s Rafa going to survive having to face and save BPs so often? He’s asking for troubles!
Why is the roof closed? Rafa hates indoor conditions..,an it’s terribly humid out there..,also Rafa needs time to adjust to the new surface.., all working against Rafa…
Goffin taking the ball early and Rafa making too many UEs sobthe score is as it is… c’mon Rafa, regroup and start serving better! Rafa is so unsuccessful in challenging, he should just stop doing that…
Well closing of the roof is expected with the weather conditions in Australia. Rafa should be prepared for this, don’t expect conditions at Melbourne to be any better. If he can’t take the humidity, then too bad, he’s not going to win anything because going forward, the whole world is getting warmer due to global warming!
Rafa is just tired! Too much tennis for him lately plus five hours flight and completely new conditions all makes it too difficult to cope with..Goffin is already accustomed to this surface and that is huge advantage to play well…yet it’s Rafa’s errors which are decisive in this match.. he just doesn’t play his game…
It’s really, realy humid in sydney right now. No wonder Nadal is looking lethargic, the older you are the harder it is in this kind of weather.
But Djoko managed to edge out Shapo; and it’s under the same conditions and Djoko also flew in from Brisbane. No excuse, as I mentioned before, during Abu Dhabi exho, that Rafa was having problem with his serves. During the ATP cup, he hardly served any better; without a great serve, he’s not going far at the AO, because he will have to grind and under hot and humid conditions, he will run into plenty of physical problems!
Shapo is a bigger choker and also a lot less experienced than Goffin. Belgium team support is strong also.
Goffin is coming out of a flat period also so could be starting to peak again whereas Shapo has been at the top of his game for a while now.
Agreed. Can’t compare Goffin who managed to beat top players in the past including Novak and has plenty of experience with a classic choker like Shapovalov…besides, Novak smartly did not play doubles unlike Rafa who played two matches per day.. .
Apparently Djok has been training hard during the off season to get this game back on track whereas Nadal probably took a lot of time off after winning US Open and getting the no. 1 ranking back. Nadal should come good again at the AO.
Nadal has had very little time off, having played Laver Cup, took a few days to get married (if you’ve ever had a large wedding you’ll know how restful that is), then off to Paris Masters. After that it was WTF (only 3 matches), then Davis Cup, making a marathon run to the win there, playing singles and doubles, then Abu Dhabi, then back to training for a week…and on to Australia. Rafa really should have pulled out of Abu Dhabi imo. If Rafa makes it through AO without an injury it’ll be a miracle imo, never mind winning the thing.
Sounds like he needs a rest then. If that’s the case he might be a surprise early exit in the AO.
Natashao JAT 6:31 AM,
Both Rafa and Djoko played one doubles match in the group stage.
Bautista Agut loves it in Australia, could see a big Australian Open from him again. Medvedev and Bautista Agut are bankers, lots of money to be made on those 2.
I doubt Fed can handle this heat. The older 32+ players will struggle in this climate. Some good money to be made on picking upsets especially with the younger gen getting stronger physically. Physical strength, speed and fitness is where the changing of the guard will happen and its already in the midst of happening.
I Fed runs into a Theim, Khachanov, Medvedev in the quaters, Ill be all over the upset especially if its hot.
or Dimitrov.
The thing that pissed me off is Djoko is slowly gaining points against Rafa, and if Djoko manages to retain his AO title and Rafa loses before the final, Rafa may lose his no.1 ranking again!
It’ll be frustrating for Rafa, having to work so hard to get to no. 1 and then has to lose it again. What happen to his serve? Why is it so unreliable now?
Is Rafa playing doubles? Even if Spain wins today, Rafa will run into problems tomorrow vs De Minaur, who’s even quicker than Goffin and is well rested (having one more day rest).
Spain doesnt have a great regular doubles team it seems, that Rafa has to play both singles and doubles. What happen to Team Spain? After Feli, Marc Lopez are gone, they can’t put up a good doubles team (not including Rafa). The golden era of tennis for Spain is coming to an end soon, once these veterans are gone.
True! Can’t believe Spain did not have another option than to have Rafa play doubles as well! He shouldn’t have played the doubles match today.,,he already looked lethargic in his singles match, cannot improve all of the sudden to play his best in the decider…
You’re just now noticing?! Spain lost Ferrer is what happened. RBA’s been a great 2nd but he’s 30. As for doubles, Spain never was great there except when Rafa played. Which is why Roig has him playing when they really need the win.
Rafa says Spain’s problem is money. RFET doesn’t get revenue from a slam or even a master’s – Madrid is owned by Ion Tiriac. Canada and Italy both get cash from their Masters aka Opens.
Granollers and Marc Lopez were a good team, winning the WTF and some Masters. They used to be a regular doubles team. Where is Granollers, I think he’s better than old man Feli.
And better than PCB in doubles.
PCB is very good at dubs
Not as good as Granollers who’s good at the net. Granollers more a doubles player, PCB not so.
Granollers had a back problem after one dub match at DC and isn’t on the ATP Cup team. Granollers/Marc and Team LoLo were both very good dubs teams but they just never quite did well at DC, losing some very close matches. Feli won some DC dubs with Verdasco back in the day but they never meshed all that well and their team broke up.
As Ricky said PCB is a pretty good doubles player and I thought he did very well today. He and Rafa won Beijing in 2017 – I think that’s the last time Rafa played dubs until this year’s DC.