For the most part, Rafael Nadal has set the NextGen charge back 100 years.
Well, maybe not that long; but the Spaniard has certainly played his part among the old guard in putting a real dent in the youngsters’ metal. Nadal will look to inflict more damage when he goes up against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Thursday night.
Putting any concerns about injuries or rust to rest, Nadal has run roughshod through the draw so far this fortnight–including at the expense of up-and-comers Alex de Minaur and Frances Tiafoe. The 2009 champion also made straight-set mincemeat out of veterans James Duckworth, Matthew Ebden, and Tomas Berdych. Nadal, who is quite obviously more well-rested than rusty on the heels of his most recent layoff, has been pushed to only one tiebreaker by Berdych. And it should be noted that the first two sets of that contest were 6-0 and 6-1. The world No. 2 surrendered only 16 total games in his two matches against de Minaur (seven) and Tiafoe (nine).
Tsitsipas knows the feeling. He is 0-2 lifetime against Nadal with two straight-set losses, and three of their four sets have been 6-2 or worse.
“(It) is not like don’t give them confidence or not,” Nadal responded when asked about his dominance of the NextGen. “I know they are good. I know they will be fighting for the most important things during the next couple of years…. I just take it like a difficult match against players that they have a lot of energy. That’s all. (It) is another match…. When you face these young players, they are in permanent improvement. [Tsitsipas is] with confidence; he won a lot of good matches. Will be a tough one.”
Tsitsipas has been the sensation of this tournament, surviving tough four-setters against Matteo Berrettini, Viktor Troicki, and Nikoloz Basilashvili before doing the same–in much grander fashion–against Roger Federer with a 6-7(11), 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-6(5) upset on Saturday night. The 20-year-old Greek followed up the biggest win of his career by beating Roberto Bautista Agut, who was also running low on emotional and physical energy, via a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) quarterfinal scoreline.
“It almost feels like a fairytale,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m living a dream–living what I worked so hard for. I told people before that reaching Grand Slam semis was my goal. When I was answering that question I thought I was crazy. But no, it’s real. It happened.”
The world No. 15 will have to rearrange his goals in a hurry, because Nadal will pounce on any sort of satisfaction or complacency. Happy to be in the quarters, Tiafoe came out flat against Nadal, dropped serve right away, and never got into the match en route to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 destruction. Tsitsipas cannot afford a similarly slow start.
Given the enormity of the stage and their respective paths through the event, this should once again be one-way traffic for the 17-time major winner.
Pick: Nadal in 3
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I think Tsitsipas will get a set. Nadal in 4.
Agree, but I really, really, REALLY hope that Ricky’s right this time!
That was his goal to get to the semis. Now he wants to beat Rafa and Djoker for the trophy. He says he played Rafa before and knows how to beat him. I thought nj he went from complacency to overconfident real quick.
Nothing wrong with aiming high. I don’t agree that he “knows how to beat him”, but I can get behind the belief that he CAN beat him…otherwise why even try?
Never said he knows how to beat him but rather he knows his game better and believes he might get it. Although the mentality has to be there. You need to enter the court thinking “I am here to win”. I really hope he does and why not winning his first slam just for the historic moment and the epicness of such an achievment.
I agree. It’s good to reach beyond your goals. You should go in it to win it. I think Rafa is going to be a tough out. He’s been on fire. Great to see after the uncertainty.
Nadal in four. This could be a really good one 🍿
Nadal has been the best player in this tournament so far, with the possible exception of Raonic. I’ll certainly be cheering for Tsisipas, but I don’t see him taking more than a set, if that -unless Rafa’s abdominal injury hampers him.
Rafa also had a relatively easy draw to be honest. If Stef manages to take the game in tie breaks he has an advantage. Rafa is playing great but I think Stef will take one set minimum and if it goes to the 5th I vote Stef for the win.
“Given the enormity of the stage and their respective paths through the event, this should once again be one-way traffic for the 17-time major winner.”
Isn’t one of Tsitsipas’s standout attributes is that he rises to the occasion?
He’s got nothing to lose given he’s almost guaranteed many more semis and final due to being the best prospect of the next gen.
I think Tsitsipas serve and backhand down the line will be key to this match and how well he hits his forehand when he gets the opportunity.
Federer and Tsits have similar styles so they traded shots from the back of the court a lot and the winner was the one who won the key points. Every set could have gone either way. Fed should have had a Plan B. B-Agut had the advantage to take the first 3 sets but somehow let Tsits in at the business end when all B-Agut had to do was hold serve. Rafa is a very different player he will not sleepwalk through the match and take Tsits for granted, he will compete at the highest level.
I agree. I think it said more about Tsitsipas than it did about Roger. He kept his head, didn’t let the moment get away from him. But the physicality of Nadal’s game and his intensity level is oppressive even when Nadal is playing mediocre tennis. With the way he’s playing in Melbourne, it’s hard to imagine that Tsitsi’s optimism is going to be enough.
Rafa in 3. Rafa will expose Tsisi bh. The game plan is simple, move Tsisi wide on the bh side and then fire a winner up the line.
Another beat down coming barring any abdomen issue.
Like others above, I really HOPE that Tpas can get a set, but I just think that Rafa is too strong right now…rafa in 3.
Rafa in straight sets, maybe a couple of them competitive. Until I see one of these young guns beat an in-form Rafa/Novak at a major, no one can convince me that it will happen. We’ve seen this over, and over, and over again for years straight. Taking out a 37 1/2 year old, who announced he’s “just trying to have fun at this point”, really means nothing to me when we’re talking about beating in-form Rafa or Djokovic at a major.
If Tsitsipas does the unthinkable, THEN I will start entertaining the idea of an upset at future majors. We’ve just been burned literally hundreds of times in thinking that a young gun will finally take down in-form Big 3 guys. I’m done with it haha.
Wait..Tsitsipas DID take down an “in-form Big 3” guy. At least the pundits *thought* Federer was in-form. He was the 2nd favorite going into the AO. He’d looked great at the Hopman Cup. And it was a very, very close match. Still, Fed’s results at the last 3 majors have been poor by his standards. Oddly, all his losses were very close matches but they all came a lot earlier than we expect Fed to go out and not to the guys we expect Fed to lose to. I think what you’re really saying is that there IS no more Big Three. Maybe a Big Two still as long as Rafa and Djokovic can stay healthy. But it’s a lot harder for two guys to fend off the young guns than it is for 3. It must happen sometime. But, like Rafa says, “they can wait another year”. I hope!
Also, re Federer, he’s an emotional guy. Don’t trust anything he says off the cuff as written in stone.
U know what, its going to happen when we least expect! Ha!!
On a side-note, Roger Federer has officially started his farewell tour, and should no longer be considered anything more than a dark horse at any major he plays from here on out.
I’ve said for the last couple years that the moment that he decides to play the clay season is the moment when he’s called it a career, for all intents and purposes. The only reason he has for playing the clay season and RG would strictly be to just show up at those tournaments one last time to say farewell.
The other thing that gave it away to me, as I said above, is when he said after the Tsitsipas match, “At this point I’m just trying to have fun.” Those are not the words of a guy who truly believes he can contend for a major title anymore. Sure, he will still be a dark horse, and will have as good of a chance as the second-tier top players. But there is just no reason to view him as a contender anymore. I believed that this tournament was his last chance to really contend, and I think he knew that, too.
It’s remarkable that he was able to bag 3 major titles in his mid-30’s. I honestly never thought that would happen for him or any other player, given that no one had done it since Rosewall in the ‘70s. Therefore, no Fed fans should feel like he’s left anything behind. He overachieved at the end of his career. Alrighty, that’s it for my “side-note”. 😂
I think Federer is playing the clay season because he needs the points. He’ll be down at #6 on Monday because he couldn’t defend his AO title like he did last year. He can’t gain any points at Rotterdam as the defending champion and he’s got final points to defend at IW. If he doesn’t defend Rotterdam and match last year’s performance at IW, he’s only got room to move in Miami before Wimbledon where he’s got to make the QF not to lose any points.
He can, at least get some points in the clay season otherwise he might be heading to being outside the top 10.
Yeah, I think Nadline’s take is more reasonable. He certainly wants to remain in top ten to avoid meeting the top two guys before the QF.
I think he feels that he’s still able to beat the rest of the players most of the time, and he still has hope of winning at Wimbledon. He’s a bit unfortunate losing to Anderson after having MP; and imo he had a good chance of winning it if he got to the final, as Djoko after his tough SF vs Rafa, wasn’t exactly on fire in the final (more like Anderson was half dead in the final so easy meat for Djoko). Fed could deal with Isner type of player (probably beat him in four) and had enough energy for the final.
In fact Anderson could’ve won his SF in four sets when he had broken Isner’s serve but he duly lost his in the next game. He’s so ‘useless’, couldn’t take advantage of that so bye bye to his Wimbledon hope!
PS. I blame Anderson for costing Rafa a Wimbledon title too. Had Anderson finished off Isner in four sets, Rafa would be able to play his SF in outdoor conditions and I do feel he would most likely win the match in four sets. Rafa playing like that would be good enough to deal with Anderson in the final.
The SF loss to Djoko had cost Rafa his YE no.1 ranking!
Tsitsipas in 5
I think we will see tsitsipas do a tsonga victory like in 08 and djoker will get no 7 Aussie openqnd 3 ga to match fed and Nadal since 17
Now whether tsitsipas does a top 3 upset and ends up a sensational young grand slam winner will be the final script
I think we will see tsitsipas do a tsonga victory like in 08 and djoker will get no 7 Aussie openqnd 3 ga to match fed and Nadal since 17
Now whether tsitsipas does a top 3 upset and ends up a sensational young grand slam winner will be the final script
Insyaallah Rafa in 3…
Vamos Rafa!….I love u!!
Tsitsi will be brilliant for a set and a half but wont be able to cope with the physicality
Raf in 4
As others have said, Nadal is the expert at breaking down right handers’ single-handed backhands. It’s virtually a fundamental strategic strength. Tsitsipas will have to find a way to avoid this dynamic, or it’s pretty much game over. Can he hit over the BH like Federer in 2017? Based on his (limited) history against Rafa – probably not.
If he can then it will be more interesting, although he’ll still need to match the intensity/consistency of Rafa over best of five. I thought that he lapsed a few times against RBA, and really was saved a bit by his opponent having too many miles in his legs. Beating Fed was an impressive scalp, although Fed’s recent history in big moments is not very good – shanking forehands, losing a higher % of breakers, repeatedly missing break point opportunities. Nadal doesn’t look like being that charitable.
Rafa in 3
Vamos Rafa!
Keep your mind sharp and focused, remain confident, be strong and show your warrior spirit, Rafa!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DxqFaJJX0AAmQUr.jpg
Augusta no news about rafa practice today?
The AO organizers moved Rafa’s practice indoors due to the hot weather:
https://twitter.com/aarenas_/status/1088293916556779520
https://twitter.com/ClinicaTenis/status/1088319890241536000
Will the roof remain closed for Rafa’s match?
The roof will remain closed. The commies say they can hardly breathe, it’s that hot.
They are opening the roof, according to Eurosport. What????????
I know it’s hot but I just don’t want Rafa playing under the roof. He doesn’t like it. And I received a notification from the AO site that outside courts have resumed play delayed due to heat…so it must be cooler outside…
Vamos Champ!
He REALLY doesn’t like it. It’s not hard to understand why. It gets all…weird and damp and the court plays so differently.