Rafael Nadal has been out for almost two months and his comeback at the Mutua Madrid Open could be a tough one.
Before he can look ahead to potential showdowns with Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semis, Nadal will begin his week against Miomir Kecmanovic during second-round action on Wednesday. Kecmanovic is playing by far the best tennis of his career right now. The 22-year-old Serb is No. 18 in the race to Turin and his 6-4, 7-5 victory over Alexander Bublik on Tuesday tied him for third with Alcaraz on the ATP wins list (only Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev have more). Kecmanovic reached at least the quarterfinals at his previous six tournaments leading into Madrid and in the last five the player he lost to either won the title or finished runner-up.
In other words, it takes something special to beat Kecmanovic at the moment. Will Nadal be able to deliver those kinds of goods? The 35-year-old Spaniard has not played since sustaining a rib injury in Indian Wells, where he beat Alcaraz in the semis despite being less than 100 percent and then lost to Taylor Fritz.
It should also be noted that Madrid is nowhere near Nadal’s best clay-court tournament. The 21-time Grand Slam champion has won it five times, but he has lost prior to the final in three consecutive appearances. In fact, the spring clay-court swing as a whole has been relatively underwhelming for Nadal in recent years. He won two such titles in both 2019 and 2021–a good number by anyone else’s standards, but not by his (an abbreviated clay schedule was moved to the fall in 2020, when Nadal lost in the Rome quarters but then won the French Open without dropping a set).
Gone are the days when the King of Clay dominates all of these events basically with his eyes closed. Given that he is coming off a two-month absence and facing one of the hottest players on tour who already has a match under his belt this week, an upset could be in the cards.
Pick: Kecmanovic in 3
Kec is good, but he’s not this good, Nadal is too good for him on clay and has been by far the best player this season, better than even Kec, Nadal in 3.
WWW?
Nadal wont be too bothered to lose here – Kec in three
Tough match up for Rafa….very!…Kec is really good…in 2.
Y would Rafa even bothering to show up in Madrid if he’s going to lose in first round?!! Sigh!
Second round. Rafa’s won against worse odds, and the crowd WILL be supporting him big time!
Vamos Rafa!
Odds are a bit high considering Rafa coming off the injury. If he was playing someone else he would possibly blow through them. However, Kecmenovic is playing at a career best level right now.
Rafa in 2..don’t underestimate the goat
good pick
Someone was saying Rafa wanted to play early so he could watch real play today, lol!!! Hope he can keep focused on match and not pull a Nabaldian!!! Tehe!!!
Rain delay for roof closure atm. Hope the delay will inspire Rafa to keep blowing through his match so he can get to today’s highlight (for him)!
Nice that there seems to be no confidence in Rafa with the picks. I bet no one thought he would win the first set so easily.
No confidence?? its their wish..lol
Well Rafa looks fine to me but I had to step out mid match to run some errands and Rafa gets broken serving for match! What? Hiatus gutters?! Cmon Rafa!! Vamos!!
You can count on Rafa to get broken when serving for a match! Vamos Rafa!
I know right, lol!! 😂🤣😂🤪😃
always
Yes!!!! Rafa wins in str8ts!!! Just like I hoped!!! Now my day has just gotten a lot better!! 😁
good start
The one blip was the breaks of serve. Rafa was up a break early in the second set and then when serving for the set.
But I thought Rafa looked very good. He won against a young guy who has been playing great. That will be very satisfying,
Just to see Rafa on the court again! He looked so happy after he won! You show ‘‘em Rafa!
😍
And to top it off Rafa looked great in his kit!! I love it!! That sexy butt gets me every time!!! 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣
I hope said butt doesnt get kicked too hard then :laugh:
Yes, love Rafa’s outfit! But he looks good in anything.
I was curious how fast he was with his second serves. I thought I heard Jim Courier say something about 100 mph.
I think he did a great job dealing with Kecmanovic. Not an easy first opponent at all, especially after coming back from an injury.
Now if Rafa could just deal with giving up those breaks. 😨
😆
My comment has disappeared.