Rafael Nadal will kick off his 2014 campaign on the final day of 2013 against an opponent whom he has never defeated. Heading into first-round action in Doha, the only previous encounter between Nadal and Lukas Rosol was won by Rosol at Wimbledon in 2012. Hasan Murad previews their second meeting.
Very rarely does a first-round match at a 250-point event featuring the world’s top player against an opponent ranked outside the top 40 induce the type of interest this Qatar ExxonMobil Open contest between Rafael Nadal and Lukas Rosol has already generated.
After almost 18 months, Nadal finally has a chance to avenge his agonizing five-set Wimbledon loss at the hands of Rosol, who–going into that match–was an alien to the tennis world. Ranked exactly No.100 at the time, the Czech sent shockwaves across the tennis world when he abruptly took life out of Nadal’s 2012 bid at the All-England Club in the second round to mark one of the biggest upsets in the history of the tournament.
In 2013, Rosol won his maiden ATP title (on the clay courts of Bucharest) and made prolific contributions to Czech Republic’s Davis Cup victory (most notably winning the longest doubles match in tennis history). Despite decent progress following his upset win over Nadal, Rosol–ranked 47th–is still known solely for his famous exploits on the lawn of London two seasons ago.
In a joint effort with Fransisco Roig, Nadal scored a doubles victory over Rosol and Pablo Anjudar on Monday. That may have slightly satiated his sense of vengeance, but the Spaniard should still take the singles court like nothing less than a wounded tiger. Though Nadal already played two singles matches at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship last week, this match will mark the beginning of his official business for the 2014 season.
In their last and only meeting, Rosol’s penetrative groundstrokes and thunderous serving were key to his victory over a struggling Nadal, who missed the remaineder of that year due to a knee injury. Rosol will have to play undoubtedly the best hard-court match of his life to even stand a realistic chance of beating the man who compiled a staggering 29-2 record on outdoor hard courts last year.
Eager to maintain his momentum from 2013, Nadal should not allow this to be anything other than a routine win in straight sets.
[polldaddy poll=7681344]
I also wanted to say that I don’t like the idea of Rafa possibly having to face Gulbis. That would be after his next match. I think the issue is that Rafa hasn’t had time to practice because of the stem cell treatment. He said it in the article posted by augusta. I am also thinking that is why he had some trouble with Rosol.
I can now ring in the New Year knowing that Rafa has taken care of Rosol!
ricky can you explain why my comments aren’t being posted live?
Rafa wasn’t at his best. Especially ROS.
Rosol just went all out to consolidate his Wimbledon win, I haven’t seen him play like this against anyone else. He’s already got a meal ticket at Rafa’s expense, what more does he want?
Rafa got more out of playing Rosol than Murray got out of the joker he double bagled.
RT @SteveTignor: “RT @TrudelSteph Now only 2 active players have a winning head to head vs Nadal: Davydenko 6-5 and Guccione 1-0”
Who the heck is Guccione? Never seen him in the main draw of a tourny before………….
RITB: I had to look it up on Matchstats. Rafa played Chris Guccione, an Australian, way back in January of 2007 in Sydney. Rafa retired from the match at 5-6 in the 1st set. He’s 28 yrs old, 6’7″, and his highest ranking in singles has been 67. That Sydney match was the only time they’ve met.
I think Rafa got some solid match play against Rosol. On this BEIN sports channel, they showed a bit of Rafa’s presser. He had some interesting thoughts on the match. He said that it wasn’t so much that Rosol played great, but that he let him play well in that second set. So Rafa is aware that he didn’t do what he needed to do at that time. He was asked if his lack of practice because of the knee treatment will hurt his chances at the AO. He said it might hurt him here in this tournament, but he will have enough time to practice before the AO. He expects to be ready.
They showed Gasquet’s match. So he seems to be okay enough to play. I hope that they replay Rafa’s match later on tonight. I would love to see it.
thank you for not answering 😀
I’m on my phone.
I will have to do some hardcore investigation when I get to a computer.
ok, thanks and sorry for disturbing 🙂
I watched the entire match. Rafa is still finding his touch. He had a higher than normal number of unforced errors, particularly on his forehand. The ball was also occasionally hitting the frame of his racquet. He just needs more court time and hopefully he’ll continue to win so that he gets it.
He has a good draw other than Gulbis.
Yes, that’s stating the obvious! I don’t like Rafa having to meet Gulbis when he is not match ready. I think the match with Rosol was a good one for Rafa to work off the rust in his game. I was happy that this BEIN sports channel did replay Rafa’s match at 8:00 pm. They also replayed Ferrer/Dolgo right before it. I only saw the third set of that one and Dolgo put up a great fight against Ferrer. Good match.
As for seeing Rafa finally, he did have a lot of UE’s, missing forehands and some dtl backhands. He needs to get his rhythm and timing going and this tournament should help him.
I didn’t remember Rosol blasting that forehand so hard. He was ripping some wicked forehands, going for Rafa’s forehand side. I do think that Rafa is still a bit slow on that side, but better than he was against Tsonga in Abu Dhabi. I also think that Rafa’s overall movement on court is quite good, considering that he hasn’t been able to practice. He was hitting some groundstrokes a bit short and that gave Rosol his chance to hit some big winners.
I do think that Rafa needed to be challenged and tested a bit. The match was competitive enough to give Rafa a nice boost of confidence and the good feeling of evening the score with Rosol.. Even though Rafa made sure to say in his post match presser that he doesn’t look for revenge. He was asked about that. But it has to be satisfying to get this win, because Rosol has the ability to give Rafa a bit of trouble.
[polldaddy poll=7683193]
Rafa needed a 3 set match to get as much match play as possible and play against someone who took it to him.
Rosol was up for the kill but was put in his place.
^^^He didn’t have a 3 set match, I meant a tight match.