The Mutua Madrid Open draw ceremony took place on Friday afternoon and four-time champion Rafael Nadal landed in an intriguing section. Nadal will kick off his campaign against either familiar foe Fabio Fognini or good friend Joao Sousa before potential meetings with Nick Kyrgios and Milos Raonic prior to the semifinals.
Madrid has never been the Spaniard’s absolute favorite event. That can be chalked up to the fact that it was played on indoor hard courts instead of clay prior to 2009, on blue clay in 2012, and always at relatively high altitude to make for faster conditions. Nadal (2014), Andy Murray (2015), and Novak Djokovic (2016) have split the last three titles.
An especially watchful eye will be Djokovic’s title defense after he parted ways with his entire team–including coach Marian Vajda–on Friday. The second-ranked Serb is in a quarter of the bracket–one next to Nadal’s–along with Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, and Monte-Carlo runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Just 7-4 in his last four tournaments, Djokovic is not alone among struggling players at the top of the sport. Nishikori, Tsonga, and Monfils are all slumping due to either physical problems or general inactivity. So, too, is world No. 1 Andy Murray. The Scot, who is coming off a Barcelona semifinal loss to Dominic Thiem, finds himself in section of the Madrid draw with Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov, Lucas Pouille, Roberto Bautsita Agut, and Richard Gasquet.
Also is less than outstanding form at the moment, No. 3 seed Stan Wawrinka may have to open against a red-hot Pablo Carreno Busta.
Full draw:
full draw for the @MutuaMadridOpen pic.twitter.com/Rh5yp2lKon
— The Grandstand (@TennGrand) May 5, 2017
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If he pulls out it’ll be music to the ears of those fans already concerned he was taking on too much before RG.
I don’t believe it! Now Rafa has an ear infection? It’s always something with him. That changes things. I don’t know that he wants to risk anything with RG coming up.
not sure an ear infection can get worse by playing tennis….
Rafa can take antibiotics for the infection, but ear infections can cause loss of balance if it’s severe and it’s painful. Antibiotics take 48 hours to start working. So if he’s started then then he might be feeling better when he plays.
i see what you did there
I heard her the first time.
And yes. It can.
“If he pulls out,it’ll be a music to the ears…..”
If you’re not a Rafa fans,then yes..but if you’re a truly rafa fans..nothing ‘music’ about this kind of pulls out…that’s i can assure u Mr Ed!
It is Ms Ed. She is a very smart lady!
Ed was playing on the word “ear”, ha ha. I hope Rafa withdraws. He shouldn’t play when he is weakened by antibiotics. I remember he played at AO 2011 after a virus attack at Doha and tore some muscle or something. Not good.
Come on Mary, I think you are worrying too much, Rafa is not a kid, he’s a 30 year old man, stop fussing over him, his health, whatever!
Let him decide whether he’s fit enough to play or not, no point worrying when you can’t decide for him! If he plays and loses, so be it. He’s good enough to beat most on clay, experienced enough to know what to do to win the FO. If he’s playing so well and still can’t win at RG, then too bad someone must be playing better than him to beat him there.
Imo Rafa is too good not to win more than 14 slams; however things can happen and he may just stop at 14, if that’s the case again so be it. Rafa is already an ATG and the clay court goat.
Fed may be considered by most to be the Goat but that’s arguable; Rafa being the clay court Goat I think there’s no argument there. In future there may be a player who holds > 18 slams, however, it’s unlikely you get a player to be as dominant as Rafa on a surface (clay).
It would be pretty damn awesome to see Rafa win another. He can do it for sure. After all the injuries and comebacks he’s had it would be the most satisfying victory for the king of clay, similar to the Aus open this year for Roger.
Thanks for putting MA straight and for the compliment Mary. In fact I posted a reply to her but it disappeared. I was riled by her comment ‘if you were truly a Rafa fan’ and what that implied so my response was a tad sharper than it might otherwise have been.
Everyone needs to chill out. We are all Rafa fans here. We want the best for Rafa. It’s never good to hear news that could put Rsfa out of a tournament.
No one here has the power to make decisions for Rafa. As Lucky said, Rafa is a grown man and can make decisions for himself. He has his doctor and team with him. Either he will stay in the tournament or withdraw. We should know tomorrow when he has his press conference.
We know Rafa makes his own decisions and sometimes some of them are against his team’s advice. As fans, we hope he will not risk his health and RG chances.
He himself has stated that he wants to win RG, so hopefully whatever decision he makes will not put that goal at risk. The fate of a Rafa fan is to be perpetually worried about his health. I guess his family is in an even worse position. His mother has spoken about how she suffers watching him play when she knows he is injured.
Vamos Rafa, no matter what!
Rafa fans worry about his health, no one needs to be reminded of that. We have all been through it.
I don’t think Mira Andi meant to be harsh with ed. She’s concerned like we all are. Sometimes things can be misinterpreted in the written word. I am sorry that ed felt upset by the comment. I like both Mira Andi and ed. I have known ed much longer, since we go back years on TT. I hope everyone can just let it go and keep the focus on Rafa!
The last thing we need to do is nitpick at each other. We should be united in our hope that Rafa will make the best decision possible at this time. At least this is not an injury and is something that can be cured with a course of antibiotics.
If he pulls out of Madrid, then he still has Rome. Rada may try to play if the antibiotics have started working and he feels better.
We should be grateful that he’s not injured!
ed you are welcome. I stated only a fact.
I hope Rafa is ok; would really like to see him play Kygrios. But if he has a bad ear infection it might be best to pull out. It can definitely be enough of a drag to make a difference at this level, and having a bit of rest before RG might not be a bad thing, even if it disrupts his momentum.
That’s bad to hear. Antibiotics can slow you down a bit so I hope he takes good care of himself. Kyrgios could be a good test. Nick played great in Rome last year and was ripping the skin off the ball off both wings! His backhand CC had such lethal penetration. His serve also gets a boost in Madrid. However, Rafa’s been playing too good. He has a tough draw but I think he will meet djoko in the SFs and beat him.
Rafa could play some 3-setters though as he might be a bit slow to start due to his infection .
Sorry to hear Rafa is fighting an ear infection. He should be fine and I trust he and his team know when to pull back, if there’s an indication to do that.
Somehow I lost my Ratcliff account on the draw challenge…shoot! Now I have to start collecting points from scratch Damm it!
Rafa v Andy final
rc,
The voice of reason! You summed it all up very well!
Sorry to hear about you losing your account in the bracket challenge.
Nny, thanks.
oh yes it’s a real pain posting anywhere right now. This old dell can crash at any second…mid post!
Right now I wait for my phone to charge, otherwise I’d use that!
The good news is my I’ve got a new device on the way…it’s a gift from mr. ratcliff 🙂
Happy to see you and AM is the draw challenge…I looked at everyone’s bracket as usual. I think everyone picked Rafa.
Rafa’s draw looks potentially tricky. But so does Andy’s. I have Andy avenging his loss to Thiem.
To ed….Sorry,didn’t mean to riled u with my comment..there’s a reason behind it but i don’t think it’s important now…Sorry once again…
To Nny….Thanks for your words!…YOU’RE AWESOME!!
MA: Water under the bridge now. Guess you are aware via TX I’m also a big fan of Andy 😉
But let me make it quite clear once and for all:, my loyalty is first and foremost to Rafa – it’s just his losses are slightly easier to cope wth if it is Andy who has beaten him.
ed!Thank u,thank u!…U don’t know how i hate myself because of my comment up there…Promise,i will NEVER RILED/HURT/OFFEND u after this!!Sorry once again ed!…
Btw ed…you’re Andy fan on TX??Oh God!!I love Andy too!!!..I guess you’re also aware that i am Farah Diba on TX a while ago when Andy made his incredible/amazing surge last year?Because of that Madmax only mention okie and willow as a’true Rafan’ she said,when Rafa won in MC and Barca the other day!!Hehehe…
And like u ed,Rafa is on top of my list…no one can take that away from him…Errr btw ed…what’s your moniker on TX?If u don’t want to tell me,it’s okay ed..i understand…
I’ve already been outed here so no harm in letting you in on the secret – it’s ‘Honfleuraise’ 🙂
I only signed up there to keep in contact with Margot after she left Tenngrand. Don’t post on there very often: it’s not my scene.
My feathers are not easily ruffled but the ‘not true fan’ disputes are one of few things that get to me.
ed!…God!You’re Honfleuraise!!…Nice meeting u ed/Honfleuraise!!…Thank u for letting me know about your moniker there ed!Really appreciate it!
No wonder Honfleuraise is missing from TX for a long time now…i undertstand…hey,we can bonded here ed!Yay!!
Speaking of TX, I get a laugh from Truth riding the fedfawns there. ?
Hey hawks!…what’s with Truth and Andy Roddick?He/she is obsessed with Roddick!Hehe…
Roddick was an overrated weak era player and, as such, one of Federer’s many punch bags LOL
I wasn’t a fan of his either. He was abusive to umpires and especially linespeople who were defenseless. Roddick was a bully. I’m glad Nole called him out at the US Open. It was not an easy thing to do.
Yeah…And he’s the one who boldly claimed that Rafa won’t ever win a slam again in 2015!Oh,i would love to see his face when Rafa through to a final at AO last january!..
Roddick suffered from One Slam Wonder Syndrome. And as Hawk says took it out on other players, umpires, officials etc. until he finally accepted he was not going to repeat the feat and retired at the age of 30
.
However I have to admit I found the’ Sars’ jibe very funny if rather cruel. It was intended to humiliate Djokovic who at the time was notorious for the frequency of his MTOs, I also thought ND was unwise to fan the animosity during his post match on court tirade after beating Roddick.
For those who were not around when all this took place here is a link to videos of the incidents:
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/10/novak-djokovic-andy-roddick-fight
Strange things happen to him at Madrid always. He better pull out (if need be) and be a 100% at RG
Actually if he gets a Wednesday start, he should be fit enough to play by then. I am sure the organizers can push his Fognini match back a day.
Damn, just realized Rafa is suffering from ear infection. That’s for sure troublesome and can make him lose his focus. What a bummer!
I watched Nick play Marcos. Gosh, he is such a talented player, and even on clay looking strong and moving well…didn’t think hip pain bothered him much…anyway, tough draw for Rafa if he is not 100%. I so hope Rafa is ok and ready by Wednesday!
Vamos Rafa!
Well Baggy looked sluggish by comparison, but still made a match of it. I wonder what Baggy was doing all this while, no news about him. Was he playing at challengers events?
I do notice players like Roddick, Feli, Safin, whom all suffered under the hands of Fed, had tremendous respect for Fed, think the world of him (probably because he beat them thoroughly throughout their careers).
They couldn’t beat him, but saw the younger trio – Rafa, Djoko, Murray – beating Fed consistently esp when they hit their prime. I think they must have felt some bitterness. Roddick had a dislike for Djoko, he’s still ok with Rafa, although he’s definitely rating Rafa lower than Fed, and assumed that after 2015 Rafa was done winning slam(s), or so he hoped.
I especially dislike Feli, he was hoping that Fed won his 18th, and said something like ‘don’t let us wait so long’ even when his opponent in the final was Rafa, his own country man. I think Feli was a bit jealous of Rafa( and his popularity in Spain, being from the same country); when he beat Rafa at Cincy in 2015, he was delighted and said something like, that’s what marriage could do for him (i.e. beating a big four guy); but he lost meekly to Fed in the next round! So much for what marriage could do for him!!