Rafael Nadal will be back in action at the French Open on Wednesday, with an all-lefty contest against Corentin Moutet next up for the Spaniard. Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev could have a tough test on his hands in the form of Sebastian Baez.
(WC) Corentin Moutet vs. (5) Rafael Nadal
Alexander Zverev had this to say about Nadal during the German’s initial French Open press conference: “We watched him practice and all of a sudden his forehand is just 20 miles an hour faster. He moves lighter on his feet. There is something about this court that makes him play 30 percent better just being on this court.”
Zverev may be on to something. Nadal arrived at Roland Garros dealing with a foot injury and having failed to win either Masters 1000 event in Madrid or Rome. Nonetheless, nothing but the normal Roland Garros version of Nadal rolled to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 beatdown of Jordan Thompson on Monday afternoon.
The 13-time champion will hope for more of the same on Wednesday against Corentin Moutet. This could have been Nadal vs. Stan Wawrinka in a showdown of multi-Grand Slam winners, but Moutet defeated the 37-year-old Swiss in four sets. That marked the 139th-ranked Frenchman’s sixth ATP-level victory of the season, but it was his first since January. Moutet is in lackluster form at best right now and a first-ever matchup with Nadal is never easy–especially not at Roland Garros. The 23-year-old may not even fare better than Thompson did in round one.
Pick: Nadal in 3
(3) Alexander Zverev vs. Sebastian Baez
Zverev may need to be 30 percent better than he has been this season–which is solid but unspectacular–because Baez is a tough second-round opponent. The 21-year-old is close to being seeded at Grand Slams, having soared to No. 36 in the world thanks to 19 of his 22 lifetime main-tour match wins coming already in 2022. Baez’s clay-court exploit’s include a runner-up effort in Santiago, the title in Estoril, and two other quarterfinals. He opened in Paris on Monday with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Dusan Lajovic.
There is also plenty of good news for Zverev, however. The third-ranked German reached the Madrid championship match and the Rome semis. He has lost only once to an opponent outside the top 10 since Indian Wells and he has not lost at Roland Garros prior to the fourth round since 2017. Zverev will also take confidence from having beaten Baez 7-6(3), 6-3 a couple of weeks ago in Rome. This could be one of the more entertaining matches of the entire second round, but Zverev will probably once again hit a little bit too big for the diminutive Argentine.
Pick: Zverev in 4
R the French crowd drunk Mona!
They are constantly shouting
Its OK, Novax isnt playing
Very nice set bynRafa! He played very well!
Yes, he is playing well but I would like to c a better serve but I suppose that comes with more match play and confidence!!
Well that was a horrible service game
Trust Rafa to fall off in third set!! No surprise there!! Hope he can wrap it up in 3 though!!
Rafa playing way too conservative…
Rafa’s serve is concerning. It was 53% first serves in for the first set. That will not get it done. When he gets it in he is winning 70 something %. But I think his serve is not as good as it was before the rib injury.
The one th8ngni will say is that Rafa does need a bit of a challenge. He is getting it in the third set. But he simply must close this out in 3 sets.
Yes, Rafa knows his serves r lacking, we don’t need to tell him that! But will it improve enough to push him deep? That’s the question 😄
Break points as Rafa is trying to serve it out.
This is getting really old.
Oh my God! He broke Rafa! I feel like I am going to scream
So annoying that he can’t serve it out.
If he had a proper serve this would have already been over
U c, that is the type of thing that really pisses me off!!! I SAW that happening!! Y is it that u can’t close a match and inject so much drama in a 3 set match?? What r ure chances of winning the trophy when this kind of stupidness happens? Just simply unacceptable!!
Choopz I’m done watching this!!
It’s not easy playing the French crowd. They are willing Moutet on…
Thank God!
One thing I will say: this time last year he played Gasquet.
I didn’t dare say anything but I was already very very worried about him.
This year he seems much more mentally strong and tough to me.
so far so good
Moutet seems to be a nice guy and he plays well, mixing in drop shots, slices etc, great effort from him.
And, what happened to Rafa, serving for the match and lost serve yet again! How many times he has to make the same mistakes, it’s becoming a bad habit!
I’m especially worried about his service games, he can for no reason suddenly serve badly, overhit etc to lose his serve. Its not like he can easily break his opponents’ serves all the time. Hopefully he will improve on that as he moves through the draw.
Uhmmmm!!! They French crowd was supporting him equally!!!
It was cold at RG, 60 degrees F, according to Jim Courier. Rafa seemed to have some trouble adjusting in the first set. Unlike virtually all pros, Rafa never alters his string tension; he alters his strokes instead. It does seem to work for him overall. He’s done, well, fairly well over his career, I’d say.
Serving out a match seems to be an increasing problem. I suppose we don’t really notice when he actually does it the first time. Nerves, I guess. The serve is the only shot in tennis that is not a reaction shot so the nerves can really go to work on you there and Rafa is a nervous type. Doubt that age improves on that.
I usually combat my own nerves by not watching Rafa’s matches live, but I’m trying to change that. Thing is, at this point any match he plays could be his last and I really, really want to get in all the Rafa-time I can!
I heard Him Courier talking about Rafa not changing his string tension bit his strokes. I never knew that.
I think it’s nerves and lack of confidence with Rafa having trouble serving out matches. Rafa even said something about lack of confidence in his presser after not winning either Madrid or Rome.
I try not to think about any match being his last.
JIM Courier
Its worrying that Alcaraz struggled so much early round just like Tsitsi and Zverev…but since Rafa has has easy matches so far, its not maybe such a bad thing if/when they meet him and it goes five sets.
I think night and day the court conditions are different, so, as experienced as Rafa is, he still need to do the necessary adjustments, hence he sometimes over hits or mis-hits his shots.
I like it that Rafa could use his varieties and court craft to solve problems out there, both he and Djoko are in a league of their own despite their age.
The three younger top players Tsitsipas, Zverev and Alcaraz, well their lower ranked opponents could expose their weaknesses, so they struggled against these lower ranked opponents.
I suspect that the trio may be too complacent and take their lower ranked opponents lightly, whilst both Rafa and Djoko are too experienced not to take early round opponents for granted.
FAA is another top ten player who struggled in the first round, going five sets too.
I like the way Rudd and Korda played here at RG, I think Rudd could go far and Korda would give Alcaraz a big challenge in the next round.
The matches have been great so far! It’s ironic how hard everyone is fighting for the top prize here given that it’s only just a “clay” tournament, sigh!!!! The way some fans tend to want to dismiss clay court tennis given Rafa”s dominance on the surface!!