Nadal returns to action at ATP 250 tournament in Melbourne

It’s a new year and to say that things are new in Melbourne, Australia would be a gross understatement.

The Melbourne Summer Set is a new ATP event, created to give players an opportunity to warm up for the Australian Open right in Melbourne — minimizing the demands of travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rafael Nadal’s early arrival Down Under is also new, as he generally kicks off his season in Doha or just waits until the Australian Open.

Nadal will be playing an official match for the first time since the Washington, D.C. tour stop last summer, when a recurring foot injury ended his 2021 campaign. The 35-year-old Spaniard first started suffering from the problem at the French Open, where he lost a semifinal thriller against Novak Djokovic. Nadal’s status for the 2022 Australian summer remained in doubt after he lost matches to Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov at last month’s Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, but he is already practicing in Melbourne and looks ready to go.

The top seed is joined in a strong field of 28 by Reilly Opelka, Grigor Dimitrov, and David Goffin–the other three players with first-round byes. If the seeds hold to form, it would be Nadal vs. Goffin and Opelka vs. Dimitrov in the semifinals. Benoit Paire, Ilya Ivashka, Dominik Koepfer, and Mackenzie McDonald round out the seeded contingent. Murray and Nick Kyrgios are among the wild-card entries, while Emil Ruusuvuori got in late as an alternate to further improve the draw.

First-round matchups to watch include Ivashka vs. Ruusuvuori and Botic Van de Zandschulp vs. Adrian Mannarino. Murray would run into Dimitrov in round two if the former world No. 1 defeats Facundo Bagnis in his opening match. Kyrgios vs. Goffin will be another intriguing second-rounder if the Aussie takes care of Alex Molcan in his opener.

Nadal will begin his 2022 season against either Marcos Giron or a qualifier.

Check out the full draw in PDF format on the ATP website

Predictions

Quarterfinals: Rafael Nadal over Alexei Popyrin, Ilya Ivashka over David Goffin, Andy Murray over Botic Van de Zandschulp, and Reilly Opelka over Kevin Anderson

Semifinals: Nadal over Ivashka and Murray over Opelka

Final: Murray over Nadal

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Who will win the Melbourne 250?

22 Comments on Nadal returns to action at ATP 250 tournament in Melbourne

  1. Actually I picked Murray FTW but I’m not that sure now that I’ve seen Rafa’s path. Andy will win only if he doesn’t run into Nadal in the final. If Rafa makes the final he will probably win it. I would much rather expect Nadal to play a really bad match and lose before SFs.

  2. Popyrin has a lot of power and is playing in front of his home crowd. That might be a banana skin for Rafa.
    For my part, I am most concerned to see how the foot is and how fit he looks.
    Rothenberg said his serve was looking very good in practice against Murray.Please let that he true! I am really praying we don’t see any more spates of double faults…

  3. Amy..Djokovic has received a medical exemption ..can you believe it ? What ailment does the most fittest plyer have ? What a fast one pulled out on everyone past so many months ..will be interesting to see what reception he gets,I bet it will be very hostile . Victoria had the longest lockdown ,many people lost their jobs due to not being vaccinated.

    In a way it is good ,if someone else wins his fans can’t say now it was a gift 🙂

    • I just saw sanju! What a farce! This makes a mockery of the whole process as we all know there is no reason for him not to be vaccinated.
      So much for impartiality and all players being treated the same! I know that some aren’t going because of not wanting the vax. They obviously decided they would not get an exemption as they are not the #1.
      Pathetic!
      I hope he doesn’t win now…

      • I just looked at Rothenberg ‘s twitter. There is fury from all fan groups there about Djokovic getting the exemption with everyone saying it is a fix.
        It makes a mockery of the whole process…Either have the policy and stick to it or don’t have one at all…

  4. Craig tiley and Djokovic both will have a lot of answering to do..Djokovic is surely going to get booed a lot .but he plays better when booed, so not sure if that’s a good idea

    Zverev needs to land in his half

    And kyrgios Djokovic first round anyone ? 🙂

    My wish ..Rafa gets into medvedevs half n draws tsitaipas in qf out of top 4..

    • Apparently players from poor countries have been denied entry because, although vaccinated, their vaccines aren’t good enough.
      This is a terrible look for Tennis Australia. One rule for the plebs and one for Novax.
      Novax had the gall to put ‘health, love and respect’on his announcement he was playing. Talk about tone deaf…

    • A lot, and I mean a lot, of people are saying they are going to boycott the AO now.
      Either that or they are going to come just to boo him..
      Tiley may come to regre t this..
      Novax isn’t a ratings draw at the best of times…

    • It always was a farce..why did they play it all out i refuse to understand

      Btw I am reading huge meltdown on twitter for Novak…wonder if it will translate on court ..but hey he is used to booing…it spurs him more..

      Btw amy where do you see that trend Djokovic and d#₹@head

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