Top two seeds and fellow Spaniards Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will contest their Barcelona openers on Wednesday. They are set for respective meetings with Albert Ramos and Teymuraz Gabashvili.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Albert Ramos
Nadal will be looking to bounce back from a surprising quarterfinal loss last week in Monte-Carlo when he takes the court at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The top-seeded Spaniard is 40-1 lifetime at this tournament, with eight titles in his last eight appearances. He has won 19 consecutive Barcelona matches without dropping a single set. This season, Nadal is a decent 23-4 but has failed to win any of his past three tournaments–even at his Monte-Carlo stomping grounds.
Up first for Nadal on Wednesday is Ramos, whom the world No. 1 has faced once before. Their previous meeting came at this same event just last year, when Nadal cruised 6-3, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. Ramos booked his spot in this matchup with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Nikolay Davydenko on Tuesday. The 103rd-ranked Spaniard is now 8-9 at the ATP level for his 2014 campaign, which includes a second-round performance as a qualifier in Monte-Carlo. Ramos should be more competitive than he was last season, but a determined Nadal will want to gain some confidence after his recent hiccup.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
[polldaddy poll=7987231]
Teymuraz Gabashvili vs. (2) David Ferrer
Gabashvili and Ferrer will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the second time this season on Wednesday. Ferrer has won both of their previous encounter encounters, which took place on hard courts; 6-4, 6-1 at the 2010 Valencia event and 6-4, 6-0 last month in Miami.
Ferrer upset Nadal in Monte-Carlo but then succumbed to eventual champion Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinals. The world No. 5 is still going strong at 32 years old, with a 22-7 record to his credit in 2014. A resurgent Gabashvili, who beat Michal Przysiezny 6-3, 6-4 in his Barcelona opener, is up to a career-high ranking of 55th in the world with nine ATP-level match wins this season. The Russian registered as low as No. 198 early last year. Still, his recent loss to Ferrer is not encouraging and clay gives the underdog even less of a chance.
Pick: Ferrer in 2 losing 8 games or fewer
[polldaddy poll=7987267]
https://twitter.com/augustazeight/status/458629337034403840/photo/1
Davy tanked to avoid Rafa.
Rafa doing his best Don King in my avatar.
#LeBron
@hawkeye63, if you’re going to insist with this hideous avatar, at least get it to scale so Rafa’s head does not look like the backside of an ant sat on by a huge porcupine.
I think Ricky should moderate avatars also…………..
hawkeye63 has BY FAR the best avatar of all Grandstand users
(as OWNER, i do not count as a user)
It’s a picture. I didn’t do anything to it. His head fell under the Rolex logo and the rest is just the history, no?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe you are green with avatar envy.
the avatar is epic.
hope this helps.
Thank you Fan.
The pleasure is all yours.
#Humb1e
[polldaddy poll=7989015]
I am a voter
#GiveMeMySticker
I’m not sure what your vote means. Do you?
Or don’t you.
is it something wrong?
no?
it’s a good thing, yes.
I think the poll is rigged.
#Conspirator
The whole picture.
I like it. This kind of pictures (Rafa & crown) have been always very popular.
https://twitter.com/augustazeight/status/458847989386055680/photo/1
Much better pic. I will use this pic instead. Thanks!
hawkeye63@April 23, 2014 at 10:33 am
I think, this picture is crisper:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10245482_742549885766163_7710859071047371029_n.jpg
Thanks. I didn’t know they were popular.
I actually took my first pic off my tele. I was watching the match on my PVR and notied his head just below the Rolex crown so I paused the match at the right spot and snapped a pic (not very good).
I checked google pics and nothing showed up like it so I went with my blurry pic.
For being one of the most resourceful, faithful and knowledgeable Rafans here (a tall order), I bestow upon you this fine badge of honour:
:star:
#YoureWelcome
serving for set
@hawkeye,
The avatar is totally fine!
I also like that picture where the crown really does look like it’s on Rafa’s head!
Thanks nny.
FINE?
I just hope you aren’t comparing fine with awesome.
Don’t you?
Or DO YOU?
Good point.
Off to lunch now. :burrito:
*Groan*…………..the full “picture”…hate it!
More pictures
https://twitter.com/augustazeight/status/458881623153319936/photo/1
@augusta08, you doctored these photos, didn’t you?
rafaisthebest@April 23, 2014 at 8:36 am
Nope! AP Photo/Claude Paris:
http://tennis.topbuzz.com/tennis-pics/v/rafael-nadal/Rafael+Nadal+holds+the+Monte+Carlo+Open+2008+championship+trophy.jpg.html
C’mon Rafa, let’s get the Rafa-train going now………..
Vamos!!
Take heart @hawkeye, bad as your avatar is (in my most humble opinion), it is not as bad as Serena’s:
https://twitter.com/serenawilliams?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetennisspace.com%2F&tw_i=458731532912713730&tw_p=embeddedtimeline&tw_w=361882799332003841
What is she thinking??? Smalls? In public? Puleeze……….
I like it!
c’mon rafaisthebest the hawkeye avatar is fine, stop harassing him over it… :):)
I would even go further with it and put it on the billboard in front of the RG central court in the heart of Paris just to annoy those fans who keep coming to boo Rafa… 😉
^^Okay, okay, I will just learn to grin and bear it…………..
rafaisthebest@April 23, 2014 at 8:35 am
Try to put a colon before D.
😀
Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
My very first virtual smiley thanks to @augusta08!!!! Okay, show me how to send a virtual kiss on the cheek????
Very happy…….I have even forgiven @hawkeye his crappy avatar!!!! Thank you @augusta08..
@ed251137 warned you, now Tenngrand will never be the same……………..
rafaisthebest@April 23, 2014 at 10:14 am
‘A virtual kiss on the cheek’ is missing from WP’s list of emoticons
http://en.support.wordpress.com/smilies/
( hawkeye63 has found also secret emoticons of WP, but ‘a kiss’ isn’t among them )
via @RAFAddicted 9m
Rafa arrived 10min ago. A huge crowd was waiting for him at main entrance.
😀
Dlgo out, beaten by Montanes.
Nico through, beats Klizan
I do sometimes wonder at the confusion caused to people who come here expecting a traditional forum. They must have a problem deciphering all the banter.
Even I am puzzled by some of the exchanges ?
For ritb ?
How about you send a kiss to Lucky? I miss her contributions.
Okay @ed251137, you have shamed me sufficiently:
Dear @Lucky,
I am an ass. I apologise unreservedly for hurting your feelings. I deserve any and the opprobrium you may heap on me, here or elsewhere. I am not apologizing expecting you to forgive me. Just my apology, that’s all, from me to you.
Sincerely,
ritb.
My apologies to all Tenngranders as well.
*virtual cheek-kisses inserted here*
I found the blowing a kiss emoticon here
http://emojipedia.org
I have made a selection of the ones which I might want and copied and pasted to a clipboard on my desktop. Saves a lot of time.
ed251137@April 23, 2014 at 11:57 am
I am afraid that WordPress doesn’t support any emoticons other than those on its own list.
ed,
Thank you for this. 😀
Sorry, my comment @ 6:34 pm was addressed to ed’s comment @ 11:21 am.
I don’t think Lucky is coming back. She is back posting on tennis.com. I miss her, too.:(
If I could fathom out how to customise my avatar this would be it ?? ?
How about this for the pompous ass who was so rude about Rafa
guy?forget
ed251137 (at 11:25 am)
—how to customise my avatar—
Click on your avatar next to E-mail address box and follow WP’s instructions.
If you have WP’s account, click ‘Change’ under the comment box and after that on your avatar (that will appear next to E-mail address box).
Forget?
meh, forget him.
Truth be told, the main reason I have been cheery about Ferru is because he has not posed a threat to Rafa…….until MC 2014. He repeats that performance he goes into my mental/emotional “freezer”…….
Hahaha! Ferru currently being force-fed the same type of bitter medicine he fed Rafa at MC!
However, expect Gaba to cool some and Ferru to prevail…………
^^^^^Agreed. You can go off people sometimes:-)
Ferru in his groove now…………..
Out of nowhere, Gaba snags the 1st set……..
Ferru will win
Well, he better get his skates on…………he’s down a break in the 2nd!
Ferru looking somewhat perplexed at what is happening out there.
Cant help wondering how Rafa would have handled this situation if he had found himself face to face with Gabba playing like this.
how in earth Ferrer manages to be bullied by Gabaetc?! Is this the same Ferru who dealt with Rafa in a such ‘convincing way’ that I want to forget about..
Truth be told, MC wasn’t about Ferru being Ferrustic, it was about Rafa being pants on the day…………
^^that
#StillOffended
Cheer up @hawkeye63…….:D 😀
natashao2013@April 23, 2014 at 12:46 pm
T. Gabashvili has been coached by Francisco Roig – Rafa’s second coach – in Barcelona Academy. 🙂
good for him! he just beat the second favorite to win the tourney… 🙂
Ferru fighting fire with fire!
Nice win for Gaba. Sure didn’t see that coming.
Gobsmacked……………….
Ferru loses……. 🙁
Extra presuure on Rafa has to win it for the Spanish fans…..
🙁
🙁
🙁
🙁
^^^^Getting trigger happy now aren’t we.
That’s put paid to any thought Daveeed may have entertained of repeating his MC performance against Rafa. Not that I beleve there was any great risk of that. Lightening doesn’t strike twice in the same place.
^^It struck twice on Muzza’s plane yesterday:
RT @andy_murray : “Lightning just struck twice… the plane I was on from Paris to London! Been a rough few days travel #sweatypalms #whiteknuckles”
The Fog came a cropper against Giraldo……………..
Sigh…………it’s come to this.
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/04/ranking-rafas-dirty-dozen/51252/#.U1e-I03NvIV
hey, why not just list all his RG wins? we need some optimism here… 🙂
^^I don’t post on tennis.com but I was thinking, if I did, I would ask them to now rank his wins on clay!
“Nadal later explained that he wasn’t completely healthy—the start of an unfortunate trend or a poor excuse”
Ed McGrogan is a federazzi pinhead.
#TheNewBodoBozo
A burrito could write better articles.
:burrito:
No aggression from Rafa so far, very tentative……
I think I’m glad I’m not able to watch this match for sure, no?
#RafaVsRafa
Rafa serving to stay in the 1st set.
Ramos will break.
^^Just to give you some perspective: Rafa played Ramos last year and Ramos only got 3 games off Rafa. He’s already got 5 so far and we are still in the first set……
Ferru went out in his first match in Barcelona last year too! Lost to Dmitry (not Dimitrov).
❓
#Russophobia
WOW
Untidy from Rafa so far.
A very displeased looking U.Toni is muttering under his breath.
Uncle Toni not happy…..with good reason. Rafa gets broken serving for the set
Up 30-0 serving for the set and he blows it against a guy outside top 100?
:O
#WouldTheRealKingRafaPleaseStandUpPleaseStandUpPleaseStandUp
#WithApologiesToEminem
^^This “King of Clay” pretender only made an appearance about the same time your “iffy” avatar made its appearance……
Coincidence? You be the judge……………
Nice try RITB but scientific polls don’t lie.
🙂
Scientific? I think Rafa’s FH is more scientific right now and its leaked 16 errors so far!
^^ 😮
Well, I just hope we not have to compare Ramos to Rosol. Don’t we? Or do we.
o_O
We don’t. OK. Good.
❗
They need to water the court, too dry and slippery…………
Rafa’s gonna get a second time violation……
^^and there it is..
I think Uncle Toni now needs to practice Rafa to bounce the ball only twice MAXIMUM, he is bouncing the ball just as bad as Djokovic used to now. This would limit the time violations…..
He would just adjust his hair (and other things) more. 🙄
Rafa’s FH has gone……….spitting errors all over the place.
18 Winners, 27 UEs for Rafa. Too many errors from Rafa and I reckon 18-20 were off the FH wing. That needs to improve. Normally for Rafa, lack of confidence with the serve infects his FH. I wonder if that is what is going on?
Rafa plays Dodig tomorrow..
Vamos!!
a laughable matchup on clay
#Canada
Rafa got a pill from a trainer before the last game.
^^Saw that……….maybe Ramos gave him a headache??
👿
https://twitter.com/augustazeight/status/458995425479909376/photo/1
for what
Can’t :bear: to watch when he plays without the good feelings
I just hope is a 🙂 pill for sure, no?
RT @Ringham7: “According to @BrainGameTennis on ProTenRadio Wawrinka’s bh has gotten much better in last couple of yrs learning how to deal with nadal’s fh”
Begs the question: so why is Rafa continuing to practice with Wawa? Seems Wawa’s benefitting more than he is…………
practice doesn’t matter
So what’s Wawa doing, watching videos of Rafa play all day long? I mean, it’s not like he only plays Rafa on Tour………….
Rafa looked happy during his on court interview.
Video. Match point and on court interview (with Alex Corretja, in Spanish) .
http://www.rtve.es/deportes/20140423/nadal-ramos/925601.shtml
I goole-translated the article at the bottom of the video you posted @augusta08 and it says Rafa received treatment for blisters to his hand. Surely this cannot be correct? He took a pill for blisters? And if this is true, what’s with blisters and Rafa??
Maybe it WAS a happy pill. o_O
https://twitter.com/Rafaholics/status/458999143101644800/photo/1
Pill 4 what? Anyone knows?
o well, let’s just take it slowly…Rafa isn’t playing well, he is in fact playing awful tennis at the moment…no matter he got fooled by Ferrer who BTW got demolished by Wawa and Gabshwho…so, let us lower our expectations…I hope Rafa isn’t injured…
Love this:
http://tennis.si.com/2014/04/23/rafael-nadal-photos-fashion/
rafaisthebest (at 5:02 pm)
Please post this in ‘Rafael Nadal’ page also
https://twitter.com/genny_ss/statuses/459008565630750720
Thanks @augusta. So it was cramps, not blisters………..
He took the pill at 5:4 so it was a precaution in case the match went to a decider – which fortunately didn’t happen. He posted good stats on his serve (which was a relief after last week) although I doubt it would have been potent enough against a player with a more powerful ROS.
I remain cautiously optimistic he will raise his level from hereon in.
what is your avatar?
#SpeakNoEvil
https://twitter.com/genny_ss/statuses/459017776024539136
https://twitter.com/genny_ss/statuses/459018501622337536
Rafa feels happy to be through.
Video. An interview to TennisTV.com in English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMj11XQs_zw
Excerpts (via Rafael Nadal Fans)
¤¤ “It was a positive victory for me. Obviously I didn’t play my best match, but after the defeat in Monte-Carlo, the next match on court was never going to be easy. I am happy with the way I fought and proud of the victory today.
The victories are more important when you haven’t played well. I feel happy to be through on a tough day for the top seeds. I need to improve everything. I’m working every day to play more aggressively. I need to find the feeling of being dominant in the points.
I feel that sometimes I’m hitting balls from good positions and I’m not able to create the right spaces, to find winners. I need to try and find that for the next match,” said Rafael Nadal.¤¤
Vamos Rafa!
27 UEs, an improvement from the 44 we saw in the match against Ferru. Expect this stat to improve tomorrow.
#InRafaWeTrust
#Vamos!
Nadal vs. Dodig – https://tenngrand.com/2014/04/24/barcelona-r3-previews-and-picks-nadal-vs-dodig-robredo-vs-cilic/
An almost 37% improvement to be exact
yeah, but Rafa has always been the man to beat for many years now, and up unmtil AO Wawa had never taken a set from Rafa!
#Injured
I just watched my recording of Rafa’s match. That was frustrating, but he got the win. It’s interesting that he said he needs to find the feeling of being dominant on the points. From what I saw Rafa wasn’t really going for his shots. He seemed to be content to engage in longer rallies without pulling the trigger. Ramos just came out going for his shots because he had nothing to lose.
I remember predicting Rafa losing 8-10 games. I was being cautious. I was right. Obviously Rafa didn’t play very well, 27 UE’s in two sets! I freaked out when he couldn’t serve out that first set. That’s the lack of confidence. I also saw the camera pan to Uncle Toni at one point not looking happy at all. Then I really freaked out when Rafa had the doctor come and and give him some pills. I am relieved to know it was only a hand cramp.
I didn’t watch the rest of my recording. I can see those matches later this afternoon when they replay them on the tennis channel. But I was shocked to hear that Ferrer is out to Gaba. So I am grateful that Rafa got the win.
Reading Rafa’s own words shows that at least he is aware of what he is not doing. He was really off with the forehand in this match.
One match at a time!
Mona: Nothing remains static for ever. Neither the good times, nor the bad times.
I happen not to belief Wawrinka is in any way a threat to Rafa even if he does score the occasional win from time to time.
1-12
The only person beating Rafa ATM is RAFA!!!
#Injured
#WontLast
Too true.
@hawkeye,
I agree. Well said!
All Time Win/Loss % as of April 21st 2014
Rafael Nadal…………………83.7%
Bjorn Borg…………………..82.7%
Jimmy Connors…………….81.8%
Ivan Lendl…………………….81.8%
John McEnroe……………….81.5%
Roger Federer……………….81.2%
Novak Djokovic……………..80.6%
Rod Laver……………………..79.8%
Vamos Rafa!!!
(Fed is falling behind weak era and all.)
#WheresPistolPete?
Pete had a lot of losses his last few years on tour, for sure, no?
@nadline28, I think Rafa’s second to Djokovic to-date for the current season. Expect Rafa to be top of this list by the time the grass court season comes.
RITB, this is for all time, not only this season.
I know at @nadline28. My point was very soon Rafa will top both lists, the all-time (which he already does as per your info) and the season’s current.
Borg is second on that list! My two favorite players of all time are #1 and #2! Yes! 😀