David Ferrer is retiring from tennis next month. Felix Auger-Aliassime will be seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time next month.
At opposite ends of the career spectrum, both Ferrer and Auger-Aliassime won their second-round matches at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Wednesday afternoon. The 37-year-old Spaniard crushed Lucas Pouille 6-3, 6-1, while the 18-year-old Canadian defeated Malek Jaziri 6-3, 7-6(7).
Ferrer has lost a mere eight games through two matches in Barcelona, having previously destroyed Mischa Zverev by the exact same 6-3, 6-1 margin.
“I’m sure it’ll be something in the world of tennis,” the former world No. 3 said when asked about what he will do next. “I love and adore it. My life has been so intense and I have traveled so much that what I want is to be with my family for a while and slow down a little. Being able to travel a little slower, to discover the world in a more relaxed way, and to focus more on them. Spending time with my family and my son.
“I’d like to ski, to commentate, which I’ve never done, and to know how I can communicate.… It’s a way of learning through teaching. I have really enjoyed teaching 10 to 16-year-olds. It’s a time for young people and teenagers and that’s where I’d like to help. Not this year, because I want to take a break, but it’s something I’m excited about for next year.”
Auger-Aliassime isn’t in the 10-16 age range anymore, but that also wasn’t so long ago for him. The teenager is already up to No. 31 in the rankings and is almost a lock to reach the top 30 next week even if he loses to Kei Nishikori during third-round action on Thursday. Auger-Aliassime earned an opening bye as the 16th and final seed in Barcelona, so his win over Jaziri puts him in the third round and one victory away from the quarters.
Nishikori advanced on Tuesday, when he disposed of Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-2.
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nice one, Ferrer
Rafa, not that nice
Rafa will win in straight sets – but the little beast has played well. He’d be a great skier.
Picked Kei in 3. But it will be close, I think.
Rafa in 3, but it will be close! Ferrer is really enjoying his “farewell tour”. Just play tennis at the tournaments he loves best, no pressure.
FAA in 3, also close!
Why would anyone pick Nadal in straight sets after how he’s played the last two matches? If Mayer could volley that match could easily have gone the other way. Leonardo played great and mostly controlled play from the baseline. He also made good approaches but his net play isn’t good enough.
Nadal, meanwhile, was truly horrible for much of the match, even in the 2nd set. I’m sure I’ve never seen him shank and mis-hit so many shots; part of it must have been the wind. It was, imo, at least as bad as against Fognini. Does anyone still think he’s not injured? If he’s not, he really has declined. Only in the last set did he really show flashes of his usual dominant clay form. Hard to see him getting past Ferrer unless he can lift his level significantly and consistently.
Calm down, Joe. 😀
Yes I stick to my guns. Rafa winning in 2 sets. I didn’t say how many games he would lose. He’ll probably elevate his level playing his old friend Ferrer. A good match, I hope.
I don’t believe Ferrer has the can sustain the level much longer. Winning back to back to back matches gets difficult for him is my belief, even if it’s beating stone cold Lucas Pouille and Mischa Zverev.
Come do the weekly brackets with us Joe. It’s fun.
Sorry, Elizabeth. My comment was actually directed at Ricky, who, I noticed, also picked Rafa in two. Of course that could happen and it would be hard to be too surprised. But Nadal has played two very mediocre matches in a row and (imo) his level has dropped from his first two matches back, against RBA and Dimi. To me, that suggests that he’s hurt and that his level is more likely to go down from here than up.
Rafa isn’t injured (at present, anyway) and yes, he’s not in great form. If you listened to or read his pressers you’d know both of those things. He’s really tired of coming back from injuries but he’s equally determined to keep on doing it, however long it takes. He is, to say the least, a very determined man. He’s also, unlike most of his peers, very honest about his injuries and his form and what he wants.
Ramara, why do you think Rafa’s knee is in any better shape now than it was when he withdrew against Fed? Maybe he wasn’t really injured then either but knew that it would affect him enough that he wouldn’t have much of a chance. He really didn’t rest it for too long: only two weeks before he was back on the practice court.
As I see it, he’s not saying he’s injured because he wants to play and it would put him at a competitive disadvantage. Mostly likely, his knee is about what it was in Miami: playable but far from 100%. Hence his lower standard of play.
No tape below either knee. Not that I think it does any good, but he wears it in competition when he feels he needs it, as at last year’s USO. If his knees were as bad as at IW he’d have pulled out of Barcelona. It’s not like he actually needs to play there but a) he loves it and b) he wants matches. That said it would certainly not surprise me if he did get some kind of injury at any point. He does play with pain, always, in case you’re the only tennis fan on the planet that doesn’t know that.
Rafa’s actually a straightforward guy. Says what he wants and what he intends to do. Difficult for you to comprehend? You seem to look for hidden agendas.
Not looking for hidden agendas, just an explanation for his worst stretch of play on clay since 2015. Most likely is injury; second is age-related decline.
Plenty of players play in pain most of the time. We hear about Nadal because he is famous and he probably talks about it more than others.
Nah, Rafa’s tendinitis acted up, he felt that in his match vs Khachanov. Why would he endure the pain and forced himself to play in the SF if it might risk further injury and affected his clay season?
After two weeks of rest, he started practicing and that’s not intensive training, perhaps testing his knees. He would feel pain most of the times but it’s a matter of whether it’s at an acceptable or tolerable level for him.
It’s the beginning of the clay season, Rafa won’t want to go all out to win the matches at the beginning and risk getting injured again. He raised his level when he had to during all his matches played so far, except that Foggy match, when Foggy played inspired tennis and so Rafa couldn’t raise his level in time to make a match of it so he lost rather meekly.
Ramara, I got to watch Daveed and Rafa up close at practice in IW several years ago. It was amazing – it was a long and very exhausting practice – far longer a practice than any other practice I watched. I’ll never forget it! I’m sure when Rafa is across the net from him, Rafa will brighten up and be focused. As I said, I expect a good match. A match with Ferrer should help get Rafa going.
Let’s hope! 🙂 Thanks for the story! They played some incredible matches when both were “on”.
I don’t think he’s injured. I think he has doubts in his head, hence he’s unwilling to stress his knees too much. The windy conditions didn’t help his shots, but towards the end of the match when the wind died down, he was able to hit with depth and produced some of his magic.
Mayer has a bigger and better serve and hit his shots harder, hence he’s able to drive through the wind. Rafa tends to put in more topspin when in windy conditions, hence his shots tend to be shorter, falling in his opponent’s service box. He hits hard too at times, esp in his ROS, but the windy conditions means he sometimes hits them too long.
Rafa said he didn’t compete well, we could see from his body language that there’s no excitement in the way he played, even after winning some important points – no fist pumping, no vamosing etc. It’s more a relief than feeling happy when he finally won the match. It’s as if he didn’t want to be out there playing! He was perhaps unhappy with the fact that he couldn’t compete well.
He wasn’t playing as badly as his match vs Foggy in MC, because Rafa only lost his serve once during this match, in set one I think, whilst he lost his serve in almost all his service games vs Foggy. But, the problem of serving to win the set happened as always, in this case during set one, when he’s serving at 5-3 and lost his serve; and then when he had set point in the TB, leading at 7-6, lost the next point and then went on to lose the TB and the set.
Ferrer has lesser weapons than Mayer, but Ferrer can run forever, so I expect a hard fought match again for Rafa, maybe it’ll go three sets, and either of them could win the match.
Good analysis, even though I think it’s a combination of injury and doubt -the former contributing to the latter. I also think you’re right that the wind was a factor in both recent matches, and affected Nadal more than Fog or Mayer.
Ferrer on the slopes…vamos!….but Rafa in a close 2 sets.
Alert:
The writing is on the wall! Rafa is formally engaged to his long-term girls friend and is planning to get married later this year.
QED
Great news, thanks, Ed.
The years of punishing his body have finally taken their toll and his body can take no more. However during that time he has given his fans endless hours of pleasure. For that we must be grateful.
My greatest hope is that he will lift the trophy where it all began in 2005 at Roland Garros 🙏🏻
I think that’s looking unlikely, Ed. Not impossible, of course, but I think you’re right that age and injury may have finally taken their toll. If he doesn’t excel in the rest of the clay season, it’s hard to see him playing on the HCs. Why would he when it’s just more punishment on his knees?
Watched FAA against Jaziri, who gave him a stern test. Imo, Jaziri has an elegant game, with a beautiful slice and a lot of variety. He’s 35, practically the definition of a journeyman, but what a tennis player. It took quite an effort for Felix to beat him.
FAA moves into R3 whilst Shapo lost in R2. It seems that FAA is doing better than Shapo these days. Shapo’s problem is he’s always going for his explosive shots, there’s no middle ground in his game, he’s always going for broke no matter what. If his serve or his BH/FH landed in then good; if not, well, he’s prepared to miss and lost the point.
FAA is more patient and is willing to wait for his chances but FAA’s serve can be unreliable at times. It’ll be interesting to see who between the two ends up with a higher ranking going forward.
FAA has really impressed me. He’s got quite a good serve, but it’s shown some nerves toward the end of matches. He did a good job against Jaziri, saving 2 or 3 set points in the 2nd set.
Felix can hit with plenty of pace off the ground, but Shapo’s shots are flatter and even more powerful, but with less margin for error, as you say. For 18 years old he seems incredibly mature and composed on the court. At this point I would say he’s a future #1, for sure.