Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will continue their Doha campaigns during second-round action on Wednesday. They are going up against Fernando Verdasco and Robin Haase, respectively.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Fernando Verdasco
Djokovic turned in a well-documented dominant 2015 campaign in which he won three Grand Slams and finished it off in style with a triumph at the World Tour Finals. His encore performance in 2016 got off to an expected start at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Monday at the expense of Dustin Brown. The world No. 1 cruised past the German qualifier 6-2, 6-2 in a mere 51 minutes.
Verdasco also got the job done in straight sets in his first-rounder, but it was far more interesting affair. The 49th-ranked Spaniard fought off Malek Jaziri 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in one hour and 56 minutes on Tuesday night. Verdasco will not have much recovery time before facing Djokovic for the 12th time in his career on Wednesday afternoon. The 32-year-old is an extremely respectable 4-7 lifetime in this head-to-head series, but he last defeated Djokovic in 2010. They most recently squared off at the 2015 Australian Open, where Djokovic cruised 7-6(8), 6-3, 6-4. The underdog can be somewhat competitive in this one if he serves like he did against Jaziri (12 aces, no double-faults, 74 percent of first serves in play), but Djokovic should advance without too much trouble.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing 5-7 games
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Robin Haase vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal and Haase will be going head-to-head for just the second time in their careers when they meet again on Wednesday in Doha. Their only previous encounter came six years ago at Wimbledon, where Nadal survived a second-round thriller 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 on his way to the title. Speaking of final sets, both Nadal and Haase needed them in their Doha openers. Haase overcame qualifier Aslan Karatsev 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 on Monday, while the Spaniard battled past countryman Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday.
Recovering from a dismal first eight months of last season, Nadal picked up the pace in the fall–a stretch that included an undefeated performance during World Tour Finals round-robin action. The world No. 5 also won the Abu Dhabi exhibition event last week. Haase registers at 66th in the rankings after compiling a mediocre 15-21 record at the ATP level last season. This should be a more straightforward affair for Nadal than what he endured in round one.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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Yes! Rafa breaks Hasse again! Rafa leads 5-2. At least this one is going to be more straightforward than PCB. Looks like Ricky’s prediction is going to be spot on!
Rafa is really having his way in this match, constructing the points so well and using both his forehand and backhand effectively. He’s also standing inside the baseline to hit his shots. I am impressed with how Rafa is hitting his backhand. Better than I have seen him hit in in a while, especially that DTL backhand.
Match points for Rafa!
winner: R. Nadal (ESP)
yup! I was also really happy about the way he was hitting his backhand! He is giving very few short balls and getting really good penetration. It is definitely the case that he has finally developed a backhand DTL on which he can rely to use as a weapon, not just as a tool to spread the court. He has hit good backhand DTL in some matches in the past not consistently enough. He has surely worked on it. No need to back paddle like crazy to hit inside in forehands just to find his opponents backhands!
Last season, post USO, i kept saying that rafa’s playing much better but his movement toward the backhand side is not explosive enough and it is something he needs to work on. I think he has made progress in that department too! Even though the real test will be against a baseliner who spreads the court really well but I already think it’s a tad tougher to exploit his backhand side now.
As we already discussed, rafa is at the moment not as consistent as he would like to be with his new game plan. The new one is not quite new , it just has some modifications but it would require some time and big wins to really get ingrained in his tennis.
Wow! What a final shot from Rafa to hit an insane low volley for the win!
Well done Rafa!
They are interviewing Rafa on court now. Next up for him is Kuznetsov. Rafa looks very happy and pleased with how he played.
Moving on, Rafa!
Looks like Rafa got the message from Benny!
I just hope someone posts an insightful animated smiley gif soon so we can have some closure on Rafa’s nice win today.
I will forward said link to Benny for Rafa to see.
hawkeye,
Were you able to see the match? No comments from you, so I assume that you weren’t able to see it?
Please keep Benny in the loop! 🙂
They just showed the draw. It’s Chardy v Marchenko with Rafa going up against Kuznetsov.
Berdy v Dhumher next.
Great job, Rafa!
http://www.funutilities.com/files/smileys/07/02/99.gif
Rafa playing well enough to win. He still can up his level when there’s a need. I feel both Rafa and Novak just playing well enough to win, their respective opponents are definitely no match for them.
And won’t be until they play each other
Exactly Luckystar, about Rafa and Nole.
Hawkeye. Stunning Avatar. The tennis ball green makes it pop.
Thank you but credit Ricky.
Rafa vs. Robin Haase, match point & on-court interview:
[The spectators go wild when Rafa is preparing to serve and Rafa smiles] 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBKc9PmxCxA
For myself, this was the first chance that I had to see Rafa. I didn’t see his first match. It’s true that Rafa did enough to win, but I was impressed with how he was hitting his groundstrokes, his court positioning and movement. I realize that he was able to dictate play and it may not be that easy against other opponents, especially Novak. But it was still nice to see him looking sharp. Maybe I would have felt differently if I had seen his match with PCB, which was tougher.
I can’t see anyone stopping both Rafa and Novak from getting to the final.
Isn’t he adorable!
Vamoooooossss!
Rafa was quite charming in that on court interview. He seems relaxed and happy. Nice to see!
Marta Mateo (Sports journalist. Tennis writer): ¤¤ I asked Rafael Nadal about the COACH schedule this 2016.
Francis Roig will join the team at least for the previous week of AO with Toni.
Nadal: “I liked the experience in Beijing and Shanghai and I love having both of them here in Doha. If something works, let’s keep it that way. Let’s try to have them together more weeks than in the past.” ¤¤
https://twitter.com/marta_mateo/status/684810248528510977
https://twitter.com/marta_mateo/status/684810554414907392
In other breaking news, Rafa hopes to continue to play at a high level in his next match to have any chances for the victory.
Cute, very cute! 🙂
I saw some numbers and want to make some observations here.
We know rafa’s changed his racket. Why did he change? He said last year that the design of the new strings will ,in theory, give him additional POWER as well as TOP SPIN. This is rare because usually, there is a trade off between these two attributes so Rafa thought that Babolate, at least in theory, have done a commendable job. Now, has is it going for him?
In his two matches here in Doha, he has averaged approximately 3350 RPM on his forehand. In the past, rafa’s forehand has averaged around 3300 RPM so the element of topspin is almost the same, if not slightly higher. HOWEVER, he is clearly doing it without compromising on pace! He is hitting HUGE forehands and still getting the same number of rotations! In his USO 2010 final , he averaged 69 mph on his forehand. In his USO 2013 final his forehand averaged 73 mph and today, he was averaging almost 79 mph! I know that this comparison is not entirely fair as the opponent matters too. Novak will make him hit more defensive shots so avg might go down but a 6 mph increase in avg is SIGNIFICANT. Apart from numbers, it is clear he is trying to hit his forehand bigger.
I have also noticed that he is hitting slightly more forehands that end in an across-the-body follow through rather than his trademark over-the-head finish. THis is good to see! He is making adjustments.
He has only played two matches so hard to make too many deductions but I just wanted to share what I observed/noticed so far.
Santoro said during IPTL that rafa told him the main reason for changing the racket is to get more spin! Shows you how fundamental topspin is for him. He wants to get more penetration but overall, he also wants to keep the topspin element fairly constant. He can lose some control with the new racket but he is adapting well now.
Novak-Rafa final looks set..
AT 1:49 AM.
—We know rafa’s changed his racket. Why did he change? He said last year that the design of the new strings will ,in theory, give him additional POWER as well as TOP SPIN.
Santoro said during IPTL that rafa told him the main reason for changing the racket is to get more spin! —
===
.
Rafa talked about a string pattern. The racket he used in April (in Monte Carlo & Barcelona) had a more open string pattern than his regular racket. His current racket has the old string pattern, but he started to use new strings in December.
It’s an incorrect translation of Santoro’s words. He said that Rafa changed the strings of his racket (not racket).
RT Nick Lester (TV commentator, who is currently in Doha): “Confirmed string change for Rafa Nadal for 2016 season, tension though remains the same, stays around the 25k mark.”
https://twitter.com/nicklester/status/684706899690958848
I know Djokovic’s win over Nando in Australia was a best of 5 sets and Rafa’s win over Pablo was a best of 3 sets, still, describing one as a cruise and the other as a battle is funny:
“….They most recently squared off at the 2015 Australian Open, where Djokovic cruised 7-6(8), 6-3, 6-4..
“…..while the Spaniard battled past countryman Pablo Carreno Busta 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday.”
🙂
What’s funny about it?
Djokovic “cruised” in straigh sets and Rafa “battled” back from a set down.
Not rocket science.
Interesting analysis of Rafa’s new racket and how it is impacting his game. I remember how he and his team tried it out during the clay season with disastrous results. I think the timing was bad because Rafa was still battling his confidence issues. Also, it can take time for a player to get comfortable with a new racket.
I remember Fed trying out a bigger racket and initially it didn’t seem to work for him. But then he tried it again and now we can see that it’s paid dividends for him.
I remember Rafa struggling in Barcelona. I think that was when they tried the new racket. He said that the racket gave him more power, but he lost some control over the ball. I guess Rafa has had time to get used to the racket, so the loss of control is not the problem that it was last year.
I have been wondering how or when Rafa was going to get the power back on his forehand. That shot just wasn’t as effective for most of last year. Now he is hitting it so much better. Along with the new racket, Rafa is taking the ball earlier and hitting from inside the baseline. The commentators were talking about this during his match with Haase.
I think this new racket, combined with Rafa’s renewed confidence and mental focus and his aggressive play on or inside the baseline, has made a big difference. Little by little, it’s all starting to come together. This is just his first tournament of the new year and already we can see the results of his hard work and the adjustments that have been implemented.
Nativenewyorker (AT 6:40 AM).
Rafa is NOT using the same racket he used in April (in Monte Carlo & Barcelona). The rackets have different string patterns.
The racket Rafa used in April (in Monte Carlo & Barcelona) had a more open string pattern than his regular racket:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYGfmW_UsAEyMjc.png
The racket Rafa is using since Dec.2015 and his regular racket before that have the same string pattern:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYGfq68UsAA0c3o.png
augusta, what is different about the new racket or strings?
called Marchenko
Impressive. On your part and Marchenko’s lol
Nostradimonus is on fire in Doha
Geez Mary, never heard of Google? Maybe that should be gussie’s name, augoogle08.
Seriously, I asked Benny and he secretly told me…
The MC/Barcelona had the “same 16 x 19 string pattern, just a little more space between the strings to generate more spin, power and a slightly higher sweet spot.”
See more at: http://www.tennisnow.com/Blogs/NET-POSTS/April-2015/Nadal-Seeking-More-Spin-with-New-Racquet.aspx#sthash.3exP3fDa.dpuf
Mental problem AT 2:38 PM. Someone keeps reporting about his imaginary friend ‘Benny’.
Mary AT 2:27 PM,
The article posted AT 2:38 PM is useless.
In April 2015, Rafa played with a prototype of the racket, which is now called the Pure Aero 2016, but he went back to his regular racket (Aeropro Drive). The frame of the racket he is currently using differs from the Pure Aero 2016 and is similar to his old regular racket.
You can see Rafa’s rackets in the pictures I posted AT 7:50 AM.
Rafa was interviewed on BeIN Sport and they asked him about his ticks. He said he is cutting down on them, for example, he said he now walks on the lines. He said he thought the rituals would help him concentrate but he doesn’t think they are necessary and may just put more pressure on him.
Like I correctly suspected more than a year ago. Typical OCD pattern. Not rocket science.
If it was OCD, he wouldn’t be able to change it just like that.
He didn’t.
It’s a step by step process.
Typical approach is to start small, pick a relatively easy ritual.
Not all or none.
Rafa has confirmed he has tried to make changes to his game.
.
According to the stats shown on TV during Rafa’s match on Wednesday, he is returning almost three meters further than what he did last year in Doha.
He said at his post-match press conference: “I’m playing more inside the court, losing less court than a year ago. That’s important for me. I am playing with a little bit more confidence on the return and on the winner shots”.
.
At the press-conference in Doha on Monday, Rafa was asked questions about his practice sessions. He said he has tried different court positions, to play more inside the court and practiced return of serve.
An excerpt from the transcript:
¤¤ Question: “When you say you worked well in your practice, what exactly does that mean?…”
RAFAEL NADAL: “…we worked a little bit different, different thing. We try to find different positions on court, try to play more inside and we work a lot on the return, too.
We feel that we need a few things that are different than other years but on the same time without losing the character of my game. It’s obvious that we were able to play and practice all the things that we wanted to practice because I didn’t have injuries. That’s so important. ” ¤¤