Rafael Nadal will look to win back-to-back hard-court Masters 1000 events when he takes the court on Sunday in Cincinnati. Standing in his way is surprising finalist John Isner.
Rafael Nadal and John Isner will be going head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers when they clash in the final of the Western & Southern Open on Sunday afternoon. They have not faced each other since 2011, when Nadal survived a first-round French Open thriller 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4. The Spaniard also took came out on top in a pair of 2010 encounters; 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 at the Indian Wells Masters and 7-5, 6-4 on the clay courts of Madrid.
Nadal, of course, is in rare hard-court form at the moment. He is 15-0 on the surface this season, with Masters titles in Indian Wells and last week in Montreal. In fact, other than his well-documented hiccup at Wimbledon, Nadal has been on fire just about everywhere. The third-ranked Spaniard 52-3 for the year following Cincinnati scalps of Benjamin Becker, Grigor Dimitrov, Roger Federer, and Tomas Berdych.
This is a matchup between two of the hottest players on tour, as Isner is up to his usual tricks–and even exceeding them–on U.S. hard courts. After reaching a grass-court semifinal in Newport, the 22nd-ranked American took home the title from Atlanta and finished runner-up to Juan Martin Del Potro in Washington, D.C. It has only gotten better for Isner in Cincinnati. His road to the final features three Top 10 scalps (Milos Raonic, Novak Djokovic, and Del Potro) in addition to straight-set dismissals of Florian Mayer and Richard Gasquet. Isner is 32-18 for his 2013 campaign, including 28-9 in the United States and 21-2 in his last 23 matches on home soil.
“Nobody likes to play against a player who you will not have a chance to be on rhythm most of the time,” Nadal explained. “John is this kind of player. He should be fighting for the Masters, for the Top 10. With his serve, advantage is huge. He’s playing well, mentally, and making the right decisions in important moments.
“It’s the kind of match that the only thing you can try is what is in your hands. What is in your hands is serve well and play solid from the baseline and play aggressive.”
The world No. 1 had been serving extremely well this week until he double-faulted six times–all in the second set–against Berdych. If Nadal cleans that up, he should have an edge in this one. He has dropped only one set (the first to Federer) in Cincinnati, whereas Isner is coming off consecutive emotional three-setters that lasted a combined five hours and 11 minutes. The underdog can level the playing field and keep it competitive with monster serves and forehands, but capping off his remarkable run with a win over Nadal may be too much to ask.
Pick: Nadal 7-6(6), 6-3
[polldaddy poll=7329252]
Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
Vamos Johnny Boy!
Ricky – Isners match with elpo itself was 2 hrs 48 minutes, def cant be that his last three 3 setters can be 5 hrs 11 minutes combined. It will be far more. I think Novak and Delpo match itself will be 5 hrs 11 mns and the 4th round match adds on top of that
I have a bad feeling about this 🙁
Which match you had a good feeling about rafaelo? 🙂
Anyways it wont be easy for Rafa as Rafa himself has said Isner will not give him any rhythm and Rafa survives on rhythm. But well hope he wins but if he loses, he has done great by reaching back to back HC Masters finals and no one expected him to reach the finals in Cincy here, so lot of positives.
sanju??!!! 😀 had you hear that I have a bad feeling about anything these two weeks? 😀
BTW Rafa has now made the final of every Masters after reaching Cincy final .
Yet to win 4 – Cincy(1 final), Miami (3 finals), Shanghai (1 final), Bercy (1 final)
The ATP World Tour Finals (Bercy) is NOT a Masters 1000 event! It’s strange that on TV they have added it to the list of the Masters!!!
Bercy is Paris played just before WTF. It is not World Tour finals and it is a Masters event
Sanju @August 18, 2013 at 7:25 am
Sorry! WTF is ‘the Barclays’, not Bercy.
I wonder if Madrid in hard is equivalent to ShangaI? Nadal has a win in Madrid 2005
No room for lapses of concentration on Rafa’s part today! Isner has got the bit between his teeth and has shown what he is capable of. You have to respect the way he fought through to reach the final but even with the home crowd support behind him I dont think he will take the title.
Rafa in 3
6-4, 6-7, 7-6
God ed, that score is as tight as it can get..2 Tiebreakers..are u like okay to even survive that? 🙂
I will be washing the tranquillisers down with gin and tonic 🙂
ed,
I agree with your take on this final. Absolutely no room for any lapses! No six double faults! How about none? Isner has such resilience and a fighting spirit that has gotten him to this final. It’s not like he had it easy either. He had to take out Djoker and then Delpo! That’s an achievement. I thought Delpo had the match in the bag when he was serving for it in the second set. But he had a lapse on concentration and look where that got him!
I know that Isner has been feeding off the energy of the crowd, because he’s spoken about it in interviews. I expect the crowd to be there for him again, but there should also be support for Rafa. He is incredibly popular in the states.
I am trying to remember what I voted for in the poll here. I think it was two sets with one tb. I really hope that your score doesn’t turn out to be right, because I don’t think my nerves could take it. I will be surprised if there isn’t at least one tb. But there may be two. Who knows. All I know is that Isner will be coming in with a good deal of confidence after his big wins and with a real desire to win this U.S. Masters tournament. He knows that these chances don’t come along that often.
The one thing that I will keep in mind is that he is going up against probably the fiercest competitor in this sport. Rafa has won matches on sheer force of will. But he is also playing some of his best tennis. I still think he has his eye on the win and the #2 ranking!
One thing I did want to say, is that Rafa’s success has brought the haters out on another site. It’s really unfortunate that every time he starts winning on hard court, these insane conspiracy theories start popping up. This guy Ben Pronin in tennis-x said that he believes Rafa was never injured at all. It was all a hoax so that he could take time off to work on his hard court game! He says that Rafa has no integrity and is a disgrace to the game! I made one response and he continued to defend this disgusting accusation. I made one last response and said I was done.
I am going to enjoy Rafa’s great tennis tomorrow. I am also going to make sure to avoid the haters on tennis forums. I want only positivity around me now.
Are you a masochist or what! Why not stop going there NNY!
Ricky’s doing a grand job with this site.
ed,
Yes I am a masochist for even bothering to go there. That place will never change. I got a lecture from my wise Mom who is older and much smarter than me.
I promised myself that I would stop trying to defend Rafa to people who just want to hate. Now I will have to renew that promise to myself. It’s not good for my blood pressure either!
I deserve a little scolding from you! You are like my conscience.
I do think that Ricky is doing a terrific job with this site! It’s also nice to see more of the old gang from TT showing up. We can talk and not be attacked! Thank goodness!
NNY..why do u even bother with such comments?
Infact you should feel happy that the haters are suffering..they cant stand the fact that Rafa is doing so well..they ahve to come up with reasons to thrash him..and even for arguements sake say he took time off to work on his HC game, so what? He is perfectly allowed to do that.
Has anyone stopped the others from doing so?
And NNY..you need to realize people who talk basd on conjecture..interpretations..assumptions and not on facts deserve 0% time and response.
Infact there was 1 funny comment on atp site saying tips to be world No 1
take previous year off
Come next year n start winning toureys as u have 0 points to defend
Can u realize the stupidity of the message? . That idiot forgot you actually still gotta win it next year 🙂 and there can only be 1 winner in a tourney 🙂 and its far far easier said than done.
“and even for arguements sake say he took time off to work on his HC game, so what? He is perfectly allowed to do that.”………………agree Sanju!!!! Did any one have a problem with Andy for taking time off to prepare for Wimby?!!
These people make me so sick!! When Rafa goes off sick the have all sorts to say, his career is over and even if he comes back he will never be the same, he will never win anything on hard court, call him “kneedal”, I mean it just never stops!!!! Now that he is back so successfully on the comeback trail……………..they now put another spin on things!!!!
I have learnt to accept that Rafa is one of the most polarising personalities in sports, and not through any fault of his!!! As long as Rafa contiunes to win, I really dont care with any of the nay sayers!!!! It just irritates so many how GREAT Rafa is and he is poised to become even greater………………I’m just watching and waiting and I am so excited,cant wait!!!!
VAMOS!!
@nny, what Ben Pronin said is not new, This was first said by a long time Novak fan (who shall remain nameless and is now on “sabbatical” because Nole is not winning) on that site. So, what Ben Pronin is pretty consistent with the general thinking in the Fedvic anit-Rafa axis. No surprises for me there. What has surprised me is how tolerant you have been of this Ben Pronin’s obvious anti-Rafaism, which is hate actually. The guy is a nutcase.
But then again, you are a better person than I am. I cannot stand that nutter.
ritb,
I am not that tolerant. I just try to be respectful of other points of view. But once someone goes over a line, that’s when I say enough!
I honestly did not think that Ben Pronin was a hater. I thought he was at least reasonable when it came to Rafa. I haven’t been on that site for a long time. But I give people the benefit of the doubt and that’s a big mistake. Now I do realize that he’s not different than the rabid Rafa haters. He is just more articulate than they are. A different kind of hater.
You have been posting there for a while. I have read the blogs occasionally but not all the time. I realized once again why I left that site. I thought that Ben could be fair, but now I know that he is just as bad as the likes of Danny Morris aka Fedkovic23, JamesDjokovicFan, novakisthebest.
You have to be insane to say what Ben Pronin said. I actually don’t agree that it’s okay if Rafa took some time off to work on his game. That again presumes that he didn’t have an injury. Why should he lie? It makes no sense to take seven months off. There was no guarantee that Rafa’s rank wouldn’t drop even more or that he would win when he came back. Watching Rafa at Vina del Mar, I don’t know how anyone could think that he wasn’t injured. He looked even worse than I thought he would. Losing to the likes of Zeballos in the final? If Rafa wasn’t injured and was just practicing, then he would have looked a lot better when he came back.
I don’t buy that theory, because it would mean that Rafa lied to the public and his fans. I don’t believe he would ever do that.
You can stay on that site, but I am done. I should never have come back. I can post here and not read that kind of sick garbage.
BTW: you are right about the support for Rafa. It was stupendous yesterday.
Dont know if they really know Berdy very well but the poor guy barely got a round of applause even when he was hitting winners.
nativenewyorker7@August 18, 2013 at 7:57 am
—He says that Rafa has no integrity—-
The Rafa haters have no integrity – it’s a well known fact about them!
augusta,
Yes! Every time Rafa starts winning, especially on hard courts of all things, the haters come out in full force.
This one happens to be a Djokovic fan. Bitterness because Djoker is losing it these days. Oh well, too bad!
Rafa was so charming in the interview on espn2 after the match. The crowd was right around their little studio set up outside and everyone was cheering like crazy! I think Rafa got a little embarrassed, but he did seem to enjoy the love from the fans.
I actually think that there could be support for Rafa tomorrow even with an American in the final. People seem really happy to see him back and playing well.
He’s a rock star!
Yesterday, he was a Berdych fan, tonight he will be an Isner fan. You get my drift…….
Nadal at ESPN booth yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C3w_GQE6eo
nny,
I got sucked in trying to show lies and half-lies for what they are on TT from time to time. But in the end you can very rarely convince another person of anything they do not already more or less believe or are open to believe. And none of us can ever convince a hater to stop hating or to see facts objectively they don’t want or can see. It is like throwing dishes at a wall expecting to breach a hole in the wall.
That said,
Rafa has done it again: far surpass _everyone’s_ expectations! Must annoy a lot of haters to no end.
lots at stake in this match. Isner going for his first Masters 1000 title. Nadal going for his first Cincinnati title. If Isner wins he is a Top 12 seed for the US Open. If Nadal wins he is No. 2 seed for the US Open. If Isner wins he wins the US Open Series. If Nadal wins he wins the US Open Series if Isner does not advance to the Winston-Salem semifinals. Wow.
Ricky…Lolz
Unfortunately, Isner has no chance
Isner really playing winston-salem? is he nuts? why do these players keep ruining their grand slam preparations?! I have mentioned del potro’s silly scheduling and look what it has cost him so far…it has aggravated his wrist and back woes and drained him..del po is a serious contender and he needs to understand !
For this match, I am confident rafa will take in two or may be three sets…. Do not see Isner winning this but I am aware of the danger he poses.. and interesting points made by Ricky…
I would like to add rafa’s shot at winning a record equallng 5th masters 1000 event in a single season and also the chance of climbing up to no.2 in the ranking
vamosrafa.
This is the issue I have with Isner. He has overplayed in the past. Then he has nothing left for the USO. Delpo has done the same thing. He is so injury prone and needs to schedule carefully. I know that Delpo will go in as a dark horse favorite at the USO, but the question is will he be totally healthy and also will he be fit enough to do it.
I am really nervous for this match. One hiccup with Rafa’s serve and that will be the set. Isner is far more dangerous than someone like Raonic, who wasn’t even playing well when he lucked out getting to the final in Montreal.
As Ricky said, there is so much at stake for both guys.
Soon it’s time to start.
Stay focused, remain confident, be strong and fight bravely, Rafa!
almost entirely unrelated… Usain Bolt and his team got the gold medal in the 4x100m relay at the world championships. With this he got the three gold medals he was hoping for this week, and equaled the 8 career world championship gold medals of Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson. Bolt has a few more in him. When Bolt and Nadal met Bolt was in awe of Nadal (and I think the reverse was also the case).
Isner serving very well. Tough 1st set
Atul where you saw it? Neither Star Sports or ESPN or Ten Sports were showing it live in India
This is what I expected. A lot of pressure on Rafa to hold his serve.
So far he’s done it. 4-4.
Hard on the nerves.
Looks like it will be a tie break. Rafa looks slight off today
Rafa looks off? Why? He’s holding his serve easily. You can’t do anything against aces.
Who actually enjoys these Isner dive-bomb serves?