It will be a rematch of the 2015 Madrid final when Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal square off during semifinal action on Saturday. They winner will go up against either Novak Djokovic or Kei Nishikori for the title.
Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will be facing each other for the 24th time in their careers when they clash in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday afternoon.
Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 17-6, including 8-1 on clay. Murray’s lone victory on the red stuff, however, came last spring in the title match of this same Madrid event (the Scot triumphed 6-3, 6-2). Still, Nadal has won four of their last five encounters after most recently prevailing 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the Monte-Carlo semis.
It is safe to say this is not the Nadal whom Murray defeated in last year’s final. The fifth-ranked Spaniard dug himself out of a prolonged slump by restoring order to his old stomping grounds in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. Nadal followed up his recent win over Murray by beating Gael Monfils for the Monte-Carlo title and he came back out the next week to steamroll through Barcelona without dropping a single set. So far in Madrid the 14-time major champion has fought past Andrey Kuznetsov, Sam Querrey, and Joao Sousa, donating one set to Sousa in the process.
Murray’s title defense got off to a bit of a rocky start when he surrendered a set to Radek Stepanek in round two, but the second seed promptly destroyed both Gilles Simon and Tomas Berdych. He is now 16-4 for the season and in confident form on clay after struggling in both Indian Wells and Miami.
“Andy played the semifinals in Monte-Carlo, winning good matches, and was close to beating me,” Nadal reflected. “Last year he won [this title], so he knows how to play very well here. That’s a great level that he’s playing. He’s a player that can win against everybody.”
Murray certainly has the capability of picking up a win on Saturday, but life would be easier on him with a closed roof. Such was the unfortunate case for Nadal against Sousa, who bounced back from a first-set bagel to steal the second amidst indoor conditions after the roof was shut because of rain. Rain is not in the Madrid forecast again until Sunday. This should be another competitive Murray-Nadal contest, but the four-time champion is likely to raise his level with one of the toughest opponents on the other side of the net.
Pick: Nadal in 3
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RT @PauFerragut: #Nadal on #SetBallRadio: “When you are happy you feel less pressure. Now I’m more regular and I earned more points than last season”.
RT @carole_bouchard: “I should have gone much more with my shots. Played too short. But playing like this I was close to beat number 2 in the world”, Nadal
Rafa forgets he was beaten in straight sets by Murray on home clay.
first back to back tournament win against rafa on clay –
this year and the last both in straight sets
My goodness, how was he close to beat world no.2? Losing in straight sets is never close to beating anyone!
RT @PauFerragut: #Nadal on #SetBallRadio: “I didn’t feel that I wasted break points because I didn’t have the chance to dominate on his first service”.
Rafa in full denial mode now. What about the second serve bps????
i didn’t see the match but vr, our best technical analyst by far, said that was a complete mental collapse by rafa.
so tired of the collective denial mode of rafa and his team.
Amy,
I did not see the match. But I did record it. I happened to wake up briefly and turned on the tv. The score was 7-5, 5-2. So I realized that Murray was going to win in straight sets.
Just so that I can see for myself, I will watch my recording today. But from what has been said here, there is cause for concern.
That’s why I try to be cautious and not get too carried away. From what vr said, this is a case of the way Rafa lost the match. I trust his judgment as the best tennis analyst on this site.
It appears that rafa’s problems have not been completely resolved.
nny, agreed. vr is so positive normally as well. this was clearly a bad loss.
After reading many of the comments, I just have to say that this loss has absolutely nothing to do with Rafa practicing with Murray in Mallorca! I am not gobs of conspiracy theories when the simple truth is right in front of us.
I know how optimistic vr has been about Rafa. Very supportive, too! So reading his comments about this match were quite telling. It sounds as though Rafa played really poorly. It’s always on Rafa’s racket on clay and it appears that he did not deliver.
I appreciate that it’s hard to face the truth at times. But after watching his match with Sousa I was concerned. Rafa became defensive and tentative and basically gave away the second set. He hasn’t looked that good this week.
I am not looking forward to Rome at all. Rafa has a terrible draw. I want to believe, too. But it appears that Rafa took a step backwards in Madrid.
Rafa’s game is poor by any standard! What’s with hitting all those smashes into the net? Or throwing in poorly executed drop shots (at least four of them). Or 2/13 in BP conversion? Or breaking serve once in each set but got broken back again to lose set 1 and got broken immediately to lose the match?
doesn’t say much for murray’s game that rafa was so poor yet still had all those break points does it?
RT @PauFerragut: #Nadal on #SetBallRadio: “Playing at high intensity I have more rythm than my opponents. If not, they can play easier”.
Stating the obvious easier said than done these last three years.
RT @PauFerragut: #Nadal on #SetBallRadio: “The week is positive. Today I was regular and trying to found solutions. My drive was deeper at second set”.
Too little too late as I’m now resigned it is for Paris.
RT @PauFerragut: #Nadal on #SetBallRadio: “At second set I played more agressive but Murray served better at big moments of the match”.
So now according to Rafa, playing muzz on clay is on his opponents racquet.
RT @BenRothenberg: Big stat: Andy Murray today becomes the first player *ever* to defeat Rafael Nadal at the same clay tournament in back-to-back years
RT @carole_bouchard: Nadal says of cours better for him if it’s warm weather, sunny weather cause of topspin. But had to adjust and wasn’t that far to do it.
Rafa used to win on clay under any conditions against anybody let alone Murray two years running in Madrid.
RT @carole_bouchard: Murray was the better player on the court today, but lord the amount of terrible misses on both sides. DjokoSmash and all.
Murray gets it…
RT @carole_bouchard: Murray happy that he kept going for it,being aggressive. Says Rafa helped him a bit at the end. Not overwhelmed by this won,focused on title
RT @carole_bouchard: “I missed a little bit of intensity. Should have stepped up a little bit more in second set”, Nadal
No shit, really? You think?
Exactly. Rafa in his heydays could and would beat anyone on clay under ANY conditions. Now, he cant win in hot+humid conditions, in cold and wet conditions, in high altitude. Maybe in windy conditions or the sun is too glaring (hence misses his smashes??) conditions too?
Rafa uses a different string tension in Madrid. An unusual tension might affect his game there.
An excerpt from the transcript of the press conference after the match between Rafa & Querrey on May 5, 2016:
¤¤ Question: “I wanted to know why did you decide to put one kilo more in the tension of your strings?”
RAFAEL NADAL: “Well, I decided this when I came, and I do that every year because the altitude.” ¤¤
So, he should have one less problem in Rome.
keep coming up with lame excuses… missing those drop shots and smashes by adding a kilo to the racket tension.
I am sure some other players do that too…
One thing is that it is tougher to find penetration on your shots if you raise the tension so..
Rafa’s problem in Rome is the draw! Not the tension on his strings! Also, it’s not as though Rafa never played in the high altitude of Madrid. It sounds as though he played like crap and changing the tensions on his racket strings is not going to fix that!
On the tennis channel they were discussing how rafa’s serve does not stand up against the top players.
Rafa played his best match against Murray in the semis at MC. That is what he needed to do again in Madrid. But he didn’t do it.
I saw the moment where Rafa missed a wide open smash late in the second set. He put his face in his hands! That was hard to watch.
nny, when does rafa miss smashes?! it is normally a money shot for him. he was doing that when very anxious last year. it’s all mental.
Amy,
That was really something to see. Rafa has an outstanding overhead smash. We have seen him hit that shot too many times to count.
It is mental. But every time we think it’s somehow behind him, then we see that it’s not. I hope that I can get through watching this match. It doesn’t sound pretty!
nny,
what exactly were they saying on the tennis channel when they said his serve can’t cut it against the top 4?
vamosrafa (AT 3:58 PM),
Excuses ??? Whose excuses??? 🙄
Amy,
They said that when Rafa is playing one of the top players, like Novak and Murray, who are great returners and have that two-handed backhand, his serve isn’t effective.
On the tennis channel they are discussing rafa’s match. They put up some stats that were shocking.
2/13 break points won.
33% 2nd serve points won
Winners and UE’s for both players
Rafa
22 winners
30 UE’s
Murray
26 winners
35 UE’s
Congrats to Andy. Don’t think he’ll beat Novak though.
Andy has next to zero chances against nole without big help.
He didn’t play great today.
Rafa plays like a journeyman now with average consistency.
No easy fixes and too late this year.
Hawkeye,
I have to reluctantly agree with you on all counts. Novak has bounced back from his surprise early round loss in MC. He’s looking very sharp. That is how one would expect him to respond.
I have to watch the match , but it sounds as though Rafa lost it more than Murray won it.
I guess we got our reality check. It’s hard when you get your hopes up and then something like this happens, but I just could not shake this bad feeling I had last night.
Same.
BTW I’m in Florida at the moment nny.
Hawkeye,
Whereabouts?
Clearwater. How about you?
I live in Delray Beach. I don’t know where Clearwater is located. This weekend we are having unusually nice weather. It’s not too hot and much less humid. But after this weekend, it!s going to get hot and humid for the next months. The time of year I hate the most.
Simona! Simona! Simona!
I looked up Clearwater. It’s near Tampa Bay on the Gulf Coast. I have heard it’s really nice there.
We’ve been coming here regularly for the last ten years. Beautiful state with amazing beaches and climate.
We had an amazing lightning storm a few nights ago which I’m unaccustomed to.
The lightening was so frequent I woke up thinking there was something wrong with my eyes. I thought I might be having a mini stroke lol. Must have been several thousand flashes in a matter of 20 minutes. Never seen anything like it.
We had it, too! Since I lived in California for so long, I forgot about thunderstorms on the east coast. They don’t have those kinds of storms in L.A. So I freak out whenever they happen, which is a lot in the summer. Almost two years here and I am still not used to it.
Rafa simply made a mess out of everything!
I really feel that he’s nervous when facing Murray again at Madrid. It’s sad to see Rafa in such a sorry state, when he’s doing everything so poorly! He could only go CC all the time with his FH, allowing Murray to hit BH CC or DTL.
I just finished watching the first set of rafa’s match and now I am really upset!
I don’t know how he managed to lose that first set! Murray’s first serve percentage was below 50%. Rafa’s was much higher. Neither guy was at their best. But Rafa had his chances. He did break back and tied it up at 5-5. He even has some chances on murray’s serve to get the break. But Murray head and then broke Rafa at love to take the first set!
Rafa was dumping forehands into the net in that first set. He even dumped a backhand when he had a break point on murray’s serve. Rafa was too defensive on break point chances and just generally. He allowed Murray to dictate the points.
I am not knocking defense. It’s part of rafa’s greatness and can win slams. But there has to be a balance between offense and defense. Rafa has been brilliant at transitioning from defense to offense. But too often he was behind the baseline trying to just rely on his defense.
Now I am going to watch the second set, but I needed a break to vent!
it was pretty depressing. Murray did not even play well in the first set. Rafa played crap. Actually its good he lost. He wud have gotten a beatdown at the hands of Djokovic in the finals.
atul,
Yes, after watching the second set I agree with you. Murray did not play that well. Rafa had so many break chances, but just couldn’t get it done.
Murray missed an overhead or two and a few other shots that he would normally make. It was not just Rafa. But Rafa was in this match and could have won it. There were some flashes of brilliance, but all too often he was scrambling on defense.
I actually found myself thinking the same thing – Rafa was spared another humiliating loss to Novak in the final.
I am trying to decide if this is just a blip on the radar or real cause for concern. There will be days when Rafa doesn’t have his best game. They both were mediocre.
I would feel better if Rafa didn’t have such a lousy draw in Rome.
Nativenewyorker MAY 8, 2016 AT 1:30 AM
—I actually found myself thinking the same thing – Rafa was spared another humiliating loss to Novak in the final.—
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OMG! How some things are changing! I remembered your fierce and repeated attacks on me after I wrote in March last year:
¤¤ Vamos Rafa – no matter what!!! I think, it was better to lose today than make Fedfans happy tomorrow!¤¤
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nativnewyorker7, March 21, 2015 :
¤¤ I think that’s the worst reason of all – that it was better to lose today than to lose to Fed…¤¤
He had so many chances today. He just did not capitalize. it was not even that Murray played well
He beat himself atul. Little to do with his opponent especially given how poor even Murray played.
Nothing new.