Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be aiming for spots in the Rome quarterfinals when they take the court on Thursday. The two all-time greats are going up against familiar foes Stan Wawrinka and Denis Shapovalov, respectively.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (WC) Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka has turned back the clock to make a surprising appearance in round three of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. You have to turn it back even farther to find the last completed head-to-head match between these two veterans. That was the 2016 U.S. Open final, in which Wawrinka pulled off a good 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 upset for his third Grand Slam title. They also faced each other at the 2019 U.S. Open, but Djokovic retired from their fourth-round contest while trailing two sets to love. Despite those results, the top-ranked Serb has won 19 of their 25 meetings (five of six on clay, not counting retirements).
Heading into Rome, Djokovic and Wawrinka had won a combined seven matches in 2022 (all seven by Djokovic). Wawrinka is just now coming back from a year-long injury absence and so far this week he has battled past Reilly Opelka and Laslo Djere in three sets. How much more can the 37-year-old’s body take when it isn’t used to this much tennis in a short amount of time? Having to face Djokovic won’t make things any easier–even though the No. 1 seed may not be in peak form. A semifinal run in Madrid was relatively encouraging and Djokovic had no trouble erasing Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday. This is a fun matchup on paper, but it probably won’t last long.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
(3) Rafael Nadal vs. (13) Denis Shapovalov
Nadal vs. Shapovalov is a rematch of the same tournament and same round last year, when the Spaniard survived 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) on his way to a 10th Rome title. Shapovalov also had Nadal on the ropes earlier this season at the Australian Open only for the Canadian to collapse in the fifth set en route to a 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 loss. Overall, the head-to-head series stands at 4-1 in Nadal’s favor (2-0 on clay) and he has won four in a row since falling to Shapovalov 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) at the 2017 Montreal Masters.
Like Djokovic, Nadal’s Madrid ouster came at the hands of eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. But Rome generally suits the 35-year-old much better than Madrid; he is a 10-time champion of this event and his bid for No. 11 got off to an emphatic start with a 6-3, 6-1 beatdown of John Isner on Wednesday. Shapovalov has already passed two tough tests in the form of Lorenzo Sonego (7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3) and Nikoloz Basilashvili (6-4, 7-6(5)). Still, the world No. 16 is just 4-4 dating back to the Dubai semifinals. This is unlikely to be as competitive as their memorable 2021 showdown.
Pick: Nadal in 2
NY, Rafa does not need to win another FO b4 her retires. I honestly believe he needs to win another Wimby!! It’s just too much for him at his age to win FO and then have expectations to win Wimby!!! That’s how I feel.
Mona,
Well I don’t know what to think. This rib injury seems to have set him back. This inability to close out matches is costing him very dearly.
I just don’t know that’s other Wimby is realistic. Don’t get me wrong. I have wanted him to get another Wimby since he was robbed when he played that semifinal with Novak with the stupid roof closed in the daytime. But I just don’t know with that foot now.
With his foot issue, Rafa should all the more be aggressive in his matches and shortens points so that he need not do so much running and thus not putting too much pressure on his troubled foot.
He was more aggressive playing on the HCs prior to his rib injury, perhaps he should play that way even on clay (he was very aggressive during the 2017 clay season), and I believe the results would be much better than what he has now, may not need to go the distance so often; and be more aggressive when closing sets or matches instead of thinking or worrying too much and ended up losing instead.
I just hope he is fit enough to play at the FO.
Rafa said in presser he needs to talk to his doc about the foot if he can play at RG ..like really ? He may miss RG?
Is this going to be a 2009 repeat the year he won AO…
Honestly I don’t mind!!! His foot needs the rest!!! Let the others win FO and not having to beat Rafa to win it! I’m really fine with that possibility!! On to Wimby we go!!
Honestly I don’t like the way Rafa played against Shapo in this match. He’s standing so far back behind the baseline, just to handle Shapo’s big serve, and was made to run so much from corner to corner, it’s not helping his troubled foot.
Rafa imo played a defensive game against Shapo, wanting to capitalise on Shapo’s error prone game. After winning the first set, Rafa’s level dropped, couldn’t capitalise anymore on Shapo’s errors, lost his own serve twice despite fighting hard to hold serve.
In set three, after winning set two, Shapo’s confidence was back and he had already gotten used to Rafa’s predictable CC pattern of play, Shapo just continued to serve big but cut down on his own errors; Rafa’s movement was then affected when his troubled foot couldn’t hold up.
Rafa just have to finish his matches asap, the way he handled Isner and Kecmanovic were much better, it seemed that Rafa just couldn’t sustain that level of play match after match!
The sponsors have the data, they know how it works. They wanted Djokovic while he was a top commodity. With the way Carlos is going, they know everyone else is a high risk commodity right now…and there’s tough times ahead.
https://au.sports.yahoo.com/tennis-2022-novak-djokovic-sponsor-shock-announcement-205754468.html
This has nothing to do with Alcaraz and everything to do with Djokovic becoming a controversial political figure who carries a risk of negative publicity. Nobody “has the data” on the future.
While I think that was a consideration, I don’t believe that was the sole reason. They would have weighed up many factors during their decision-making process and decided the risks outweigh the potential benefits at this stage of his career and in light of increasing competition.
And now that I think about it a bit more, it looks like some more Western media propoganda. These sponsorships were due to end anyway, with no expectation of an extension. It’s being made to look like Djokovic is being punished for his COVID views and maybe also because he was sympathetic to the Russian players.
And, coming from Yahoo you could certainly deduce that it is indeed a piece of Western propoganda with an hidden agenda attached.
You’re wrong Ricky. Just like your 20% correct predictions.
And it continues with the loser troll.
We know this is not Raj. But the troll has a lack of imagination. It’s quite obvious. What a way to throw your life down the drain. Wouldn’t it be easier to get some psychological counseling?
What do you mean liar, deceiver, manipulator, opportunist…what do you mean?
Can you please clarify what you mean?
I have a question.
Is there really a Raj, Sanju, Elizabeth, amy etc or are these fictitious entities designed to make it look like a full community of posters when really there is only a few?
Can you please assist explain why everything Ricky gets aorecutun wrong you flood the forum with new posts and discussiins to hide it or divert attention away from it but when he gets one occasionally right you don’t post and leave the predictions there for add long as possible.
Can you please explain or am I just seeing things?
Can you please assist explain why when Ricky gets correction wrong you flood the forum with new posts and discussions to hide it or divert attention away from it but when he gets one occasionally right you don’t post and leave the predictions there for as long as possible.
Can you please explain or am I just seeing things?
“prediction”
When you wake up and reakise that you people are lying, deceiving, biased, hypocritical, attention seeking scum, the world will be a better place.
To the privacy breacher peeping tom in steroids. This is one of your great hypocritical, opportunists posts because everything on that list you day others shouldn’t do, you do.
Discuss ideas, not people.
Share lessons, not gossip.
Build value, not destroy it.
Learn to compete, not complain.
Create solutions, not problems.
Enjoy the rest of your day lying, deceiving, opportunistic, attention seeking hypocrites.
Just remember who was the one that was willing to engage directly to do great things and who were the ones that decided to hide behind their computer screen and play futile games.