Novak Djokovic will not have any time to ease into his Australian Open title defense, as he has to face Fernando Verdasco right off the bat on Tuesday. Verdasco’s 2016 first-round opponent, Rafael Nadal, has a date with Florian Mayer.
Fernando Verdasco vs. (2) Novak Djokovic
Last year it was Rafael Nadal. This year it’s Djokovic. Verdasco cannot catch a break with his Australian Open first-round draws, but he created his own luck by pulling off a five-set upset of Nadal in 2016. The Spaniard has already come close this season to scoring a huge win over Djokovic, as they faced each other earlier this month in Abu Dhabi. Verdasco led by a set and 6-2 in the second-set tiebreaker but squandered quadruple match point–and five match points in total–en route to a 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 loss. Thus Djokovic extended his head-to-head series lead to 9-4 and has won four in a row at Verdasco’s expense since suffering a pair of setbacks in 2010. The second-ranked Serb is 6-1 against the world No. 40 on hard courts, including 6-0 since losing their first-ever contest at the 2005 U.S. Open.
Djokovic slumped after winning the French Open last season and watched Andy Murray surpass him in the rankings, but his 2-17 campaign got off to an ideal start. After scraping past Verdasco, Djokovic defeated Murray 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to capture the Doha title. Verdasco preceded his loss with victories over Vasek Pospisil, David Goffin, and Ivo Karlovic. The 33-year-old should be feeling good about his game and he has a history of success in Melbourne, where he reached the semifinals in 2009 before falling to Nadal in an epic five-setter. Of course, no active player has the same kind of history Down Under as Djokovic. He is a six-time champion of this tournament and has won it on five of the last six occasions. The No. 2 seed will be well aware of the danger Verdasco presents and should ensure that things are far more straightforward than they were in Doha.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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Florian Mayer vs. (9) Rafael Nadal
Nadal and Mayer will be squaring off for the third time in their careers and for the first time in more than four years when they meet again on Tuesday. The head-to-head series stands at 1-1, with Mayer having prevailed 7-6(5), 6-3 at the 2011 Shanghai Masters before Nadal got the job done 6-1, 7-5 on the clay courts of Rome one season later.
Mayer has been even more injury-plagued than Nadal of late, but the 33-year-old German resurfaced with a bang last summer. He reached the Stuttgart quarterfinals as a qualifier and captured a surprising 500-point title in Halle. Since then, however, the world No. 49 is 2-9 at the ATP level. In the first two weeks of this year he suffered consecutive third-set tiebreaker losses at the hands of Horacio Zeballos and Paolo Lorenzi. After missing the fall swing in 2016, Nadal triumphed in Abu Dhabi last month but lost to Milos Raonic in the Brisbane quarters to officially begin the 2017 campaign. Still, the ninth-ranked Spaniard is playing well enough to make routine work of Mayer–especially on something other than grass.
Pick: Nadal 3 losing 8-10 games
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Verdasco only plays his best tennis when facing Rafa; I totally dislike a player like him, he just lives to beat his best countryman as if to tell everyone he’s as good as their best player; but turns into a mental midget once he faces the best players from anywhere else!
true. But, rafa’s style of play also allows verdasco to get in the zone a bit more. When Rafa’s CC topspin forehand shots land short, Verdasco pounces on them with his forehand. But, I totally agree that Verdasco melts away against other top players and only rises to the occasion against Rafa.
Verdasco counters choking by swinging away at the ball, really throwing his racquet at it. When his timing is on, Nadal’s pace and height of shot is ideal for him. Djokovic hits the ball too flat and deep for him to consistently make his shots, hence a lot of frames.
If he plays the right ball conservatively in tight points, he probably would have won a lot more by now.
Djoko wasn’t even playing his best tennis this match; he just did his usual retrievals and stayed in the point and waited for chances to pounce. Verdasco time and again was hitting right back at Djoko, showing that he really didn’t use much of his brain but just hit instinctively.
It’s not a matter of Djoko hitting a flatter ball here when Verdasco was the one dictating the points very often in this match; it’s him over hitting, lacking precision and hitting the ball right back at Djoko. There was a point where Verdasco was near the net and Djoko was way back at the BH corner; the right thing to do for Verdasco was to hit a drop volley over the net and Djoko won’t be quick enough to reach the ball, instead he hit the ball CC right at Djoko and Djoko hit a CC passing shot winner. In my heart I was thinking ‘so dumb, this Verdasco!’
Not the height of the ball, rather the depth of the ball. Rafa at times hit the ball too short and not only Verdasco would pounce but others like Djoko, or whoever would pounce on that too.
Yup.
I meant to say height after bounce, which of course is related to depth. The fact that Nadal clears the net by a lot makes his short balls easier to deal with than most others, unless there is angle to go with it.
True.
But he hits a lot more of those than he did when he was winning slams.
Their frequency are a barometer of his lack of confidence, not the cause.
Bang on VR.
On a related note, Rafa was very inconsistent in that first round match last year and allowed Verdasco to believe and swing more confidently.
I think Rafa’s level in the first round yesterday (while not perfect) was much better than last year’s first round and would have certainly been good enough to beat Verdasco last year. Nole would have beat him too as he did today.
He rises to the occasion because Rafa allows it where others typically won’t.
I agree. Rafa’s loss against Verdasco last year was mostly his fault, he gave Nando the belief. Rafa needs to get more cocky on court.
Agreed Hawkeye. Rafa’s forehand was crap last year and serve was vulnerable. He is doing a much better job this time. As he gains more confidence, his forehand will be even more dangerous.
Only time will tell how much confidence he has at the moment.
I liked Rafa’s forehand. His serve and his forehand are the most important things to look at.
So does Rafa.
Pau Ferragut @PauFerragut 3h3 hours ago
#Nadal after beat Mayer at #AusOpen: “My forehand can make the difference this season”
vamos! there is that belief. His forehand really is looking more formidable. It is the best forehand in the game. Federer has lost consistency so that’s why I give the edge to Rafa. But Rafa must stay very aggressive.
Damn straight preach it Nole. And Fed gets a wild card and qualifier. All by random order by design.
Rafa in tough as well.
#AusOpen @AustralianOpen 2h2 hours ago
#Djokovic: “I’m very pleased with the first round, considering I had one of the toughest first-round draws.”
Luck had nothing to do with it Fernando…
@carole_bouchard
“Unlucky with the draw, as I felt I could do something good here”, Verdasco. Nando said everything he tried,Novak found an incredible answer
Nando was pushing too hard but made too manY UEs in the process so Djoker benefitted from that but he happened to be on target against Rafa last year plus the fact that Rafa was a little bit nervous thinking about their epic match in 2009.
So it appears that Novak did have an easy time with Nando. As I thought. In a best of five set match at the AO it was never going to be a real match. Novak has a good draw and knows it. He will be prepared to take full advantage.
I think Murray will do well here. He is confident after a great second half to last year. But it is too early yet to assume that they will both get there. A lot of tennis to be played.
Dimi is not going to beat Novak. That is the only player in the early rounds that even stood out at all. Novak should have an easy path to the second week.
Rafa did serve well. Someone has been practicing! His forehand was also strong and that is good news!
I still can’t believe that I got to see Rafa’s first match at a decent time! They are replaying it now on the Tennis channel.
Nole agrees…
“But I just started to play too passive, just slightly lost my rhythm on the first serve.
He was on top of it. I mean, you know, that’s why I just didn’t want to give him too much of a chance to step in and kind of dictate the play. In second set, it was very close.”
“But in the end of the day, I knew that winning second set would be crucial, ’cause I definitely didn’t want to give him wings, you know. I didn’t want to have him start swinging at the ball, as he knows.”
#BetweenTheEars
@vamosrafa JANUARY 17, 2017 AT 5:59 PM
Have you forgotten that Rafa had wrist problems last year?
nadline10 (AT 8:00 AM),
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so when did I say he didn’t have wrist problems? I am only identifying what I saw on the court and what I am seeing now. I am not identifying any causes here. Also, last year’s AO was not so much about the wrist perhaps. He himself said he felt very well prepared and was shocked to lose in rnd 1. It was an unlucky match for him and he was not playing well enough. This year he won’t go down easily I guess.
vamosrafa JANUARY 17, 2017 AT 5:59 PM
“Rafa’s forehand was crap last year and serve was vulnerable………….”
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If you know he had injury on his wrist , why call his fh and serve crap? Evidently, he was hampered and couldn’t serve or play properly.
nadline10 JANUARY 18, 2017 AT 1:59 PM
If you know he had injury on his wrist , why call his fh and serve crap? Evidently, he was hampered and couldn’t serve or play properly.
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No not the start of the year when it was already crap. It was crap long before that. In April 2015, Rafa said, “But my forehand was vulgar, it wasn’t a forehand worthy of my ranking and career.”
#ExcusesAreEverywhere
#ImWithRafa
#MentalProblema