Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem are one round away from a rematch in the Rio de Janeiro final, but they first have to take care of unseeded opponents on Saturday. In Delray Beach, meanwhile, Juan Martin Del Potro’s comeback continues to pick up steam.
Rio Open: (1) Rafael Nadal vs. Pablo Cuevas
Nadal and Cuevas will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers and for the second straight year at the Rio Open when they engage in a semifinal clash on Saturday. Two clay-court encounters went Nadal’s way in 2015, as the Spaniard prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 in the Rio quarters before cruising to a more comfortable 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal victory in Hamburg. Speaking of comfortable, Nadal did not even have to take the court on Friday. The world No. 5, who opened his tournament with straight-set wins over fellow Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Nicolas Almagro, got a walkover from an injured Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Cuevas also punched his ticket to the last eight without dropping a set. The 45th-ranked Uruguayan ousted Facundo Bagnis, Thiago Monteiro, and Federico Delbonis in an all-unseeded trek through a section of the draw vacated early by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jack Sock. Needless to say, the competition level is ratcheting up in a big way in the form of Nadal. Cuevas took a set off his heavily-favored opponent last season in Rio only to completely tank the third. Something in between those two extremes will likely transpire in this one.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 8 games or fewer
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Delray Beach Open: Sam Querrey vs. (WC) Juan Martin Del Potro
Del Potro’s comeback to tennis after 11 months away from the game has improved with each match in Delray Beach. The 27-year-old eased through his opener but dealt with no kind of resistance from an out-of-sorts Denis Kudla in a 6-1, 6-4 victory. John-Patrick Smith gave Del Potro a tougher test on Thursday but the 2009 U.S. Open champion still cruised 6-4, 6-4. Jeremy Chardy did not play like the 30th-ranked player in the world during quarterfinal action, but a 6-2, 6-3 beatdown in Del Potro’s favor was nonetheless impressive.
Next up for the wild card is a semifinal showdown against Querrey. Del Potro has won both of their previous meetings in straight sets (6-4, 6-4 in the 2009 Auckland title match and 6-2, 7-5 on the indoor hard courts of Valencia in 2011). Querrey has advanced this week by taking out Thiemo De Bakker, Austin Krajicek, and Tim Smycek, dropping sets to De Bakker and Smyczek along the way. The 61st-ranked American has not been particularly impressive this week and probably lacks the smarts and the style necessary to beat Del Potro at the moment. That would entail opening up the ad side of the court with heavy groundstrokes to the deuce side to go along with attacking the net with approach shots to the Argentine’s backhand. Querrey also will not be able to dictate play to the extent that those tactics can be executed.
Pick: Del Potro in 2
[polldaddy poll=9317141]
A choke needed from Cuevas…even then rafa will find a way to lose I guess..
Well he is about to lose on his serve.
But he is doing it to himself, over and over again. Just when you think he can’t possibly sink any lower, he does.
The just said Rafa has 20 UE’s with his forehand alone.
His volleys are a lot more reliable than his forehands.
I cannot believe this…..
His legacy is taking a beating now… Every player thinks they can beat him , even on clay.
Choke Cuevas, choke.
To add to the misery the English commentary is insufferably awful.
I am sorry to say but I think this is the end of Nadal. If he cannot win 250 and 500 too on clay I don’t think he has a shot anywhere else.
I mean I have no hopes at all now. His confidence has taken a severe beating and 2016 is worse than 2015 in my opinion. In 2015 he made qtrs of Australia and won Buenos Aires. No title yet even in south America clay swing
you were literally scolding people after AO when they said negative things… You can now see why!
What’s the excuse now? humidity? stomach bug???
If he still is able to find some positives from this, God help Rafa.
His stubbornness is amazing!
Saying this for the first time : I am not looking forward to watching tennis now. Even in 2015, I just kept hoping he will turn it around the next time he plays and that continued for a full year and now it is happening again, perhaps worse.
So who’s turn will it be in IW to beat him? Stay tuned to find out.
I never gave any excuses for Rafa . He loses as he is plain terrible now and woefully short on confidence.
I am having zero hopes from him. If he wins great and if he loses well what’s new
sanju,
You criticized others here for being too negative and not being good Rafa fans. You did it many times. So I find it ironic that you would be the one to say that Rafa is done.
There are people on this site who took a lot of grief for saying what they thought with regard to Rafa.
I criticized others for being negative but I am sorry I never labelled anyone a good or bad rafa fan, sorry I never do that. I am no one to judge that. I was just upset that people were praising Novak and putting down rafa after the ao final in a match rafa was not even playing. But I think Rafa is done UNLESS he plays freely without fearing to lose. Once he plays freely everything will come back. But it’s easier said than done.
Rafa saves himself with some big serving. Cuevas isn’t going to hold here. I can feel it. Unless Nadal gives it to him. Rafa has to make returns here. It’s not like Pablo is serving humongous or even playing that well to begin with. Rafa survived last game and I think I will here too. I’m not saying I think he’s definitely going to win but I think he’s going to win this game. He’s been so annoyingly erratic today though that even if he wins this game he could lose in a tiebreak or something. I feel like if he somehow wins this he could still lose to Pella playing like this and all. But if he somehow gets out of this one alive I think he will be better in the final. Alright. 15-15. C’mon Rafa fight. Oh god an ace. Two points away. Crap.
even more sickening is how relaxed Cuevas is! He is not feeling any pressure it looks like!
Lol
Didnt watch the match. So Rafa loses in both SFs on clay. We may be seeing the end of Rafa when he cant even win a 250 on clay. I think if Rafa continues like this, he wont be winning any title.
I’m all prepared for Rafa’s retirement from tennis now, having reached the acceptance stage, that the Rafa of old is gone, forever. Good luck Rafa, for the Olympics one last time.
RIP Rafael Nadal Parera winner of 14 slams.
i also believe this is the low point. and by a wide margin. loss to Fognini doesn’t even compare.
whether or not it is the end is more of an argument
Ricky,
Then you don’t think it’s the end for Rafa? I absolutely believe that this is a low point for Rafa. This is rock bottom right now. Even losing to Thiem wasn’t entirely unexpected. He’s a young player with great potential who can be dangerous when he’s on his game. It was upsetting, but he is a quality player. But losing to Cuevas here? That’s just bad.
I haven’t said out loud that it’s the end yet. But I just don’t see a path back for Rafa at this point.
is this worse than Federer 2013?
Yes, I think it is.
In hindsight yes because Federer turned it around and we know he did and he has won some 10 titles after that .
But at point in time in 2013 i think most Federer fans and even others thought Federer is done.
Far worse because Fed knew what the problem was,knew what he needed to do to fix it, and was willing and motivated to do it. It also was only a year whereas Rafa hasn’t been the old Rafa in two years running.
Until he is willing to make substantive changes (team, sports psychologist), I think it’s over.
I agree that Fed knew what the problem was and what needed to be done to fix it. However, his problem was not mental. That’s why I think rafa’s problem is more difficult. If there is a physical injury, then it can be
treated medically, there is surgery, physical therapy, etc.
Fed did make the necessary changes and came back in 2014 with better results. Rafa has admitted the mental problem, but has not taken steps to deal with it. There are things that happen to people and top athletes that they cannot resolve on their own. Rafa has been dealing with this for over a year now with no real progress.
The only thing that I will add is that sometimes it may not be possible to resolve a mental issue. But I do believe that a player facing this kind of problem should be willing to get any and all available help before throwing in the towel.
Maybe. Both were pretty bad years but fed had the lingering back injury and Rafa isn’t injured anymore. Also fed came back really strong. I don’t know if rafa can come back as strong as fed did.
He’s lost. Wow. Big win for cuevas and even bigger loss for Rafa. He must get a big win soon on the clay courts. Maybe he’ll surprise at IW or Miami like he did last fall. Didn’t he beat Stan and Murray at WTF? Or did I just dream that? He’s just got to start getting wins like the ones from the indoor hard court season at the end of last year. He’s on clay so it should technically be easier for him to play into better form but right now I dunno if he is even better on clay than on hard courts. Jeez Rafa. Now I’ll be fully backing Pella to win the title. I would just love to see him capture the title. Cuevas didn’t even play well either. He won’t beat Pella playing like that. Although the crazy windy conditions and possible fatigue threw Thiem off I still think Pella’s win was a good bit more impressive than Cuevas’ error-infested victory over Nadal. VAMOS GUIDO!!
Ok cuevas actually did play pretty well looking at his stats. Rafa’s stats aren’t even that bad. He just couldn’t find ways to play solid tennis on a consistent basis today. The way Rafa played so badly in random spurs and still almost won makes me think cuevas didn’t play all that great. I do honestly think Pella will probably get the win if cuevas plays like he did against Rafa. Cuevas has more experience in finals so he may get the job done against Guido but all in all I’ll be rooting for the lefty Argentine. I guess we are going to possibly get an Argentine winner this week only it won’t be the one we would’ve expected lol. Boy did Pella play well against Thiem. He showed his run wasn’t a fluke or luck of the draw even if Thiem was affected by the conditions and possibly fatigued. Besides, Pella had to play in those conditions, too. He just simply handled them better than Thiem did, so the Argentine deserved the win. Hoping he can beat Cuevas in the final. What a joke of a loss for Rafa.
Also how epic and awesome would that be if Pella won the title after saving match points against Isner in round one including one on Isner’s serve? Just making the final after that is impressive and now that he has cuevas as his opponent he’s got a real shot at taking the title after saving match points in his opening match. It’s like Kerber’s win at the AUS Open lol. Also Klizan was a match point saving miracle worker last week in Rotterdam so maybe we will have back to back weeks where lefties win ATP 500 events after saving match points heading into the final.
insane
He beat those guys and played well in the fall because he was the underdog not on his favourite surface.
A few here including me thought the clay swing would be a struggle because he was the favourite and with being the favourite comes expectations and pressure which brings anxiety.
Without change, it will be like this.
One step forwards. Two steps back.
Until he is unable to even step onto the court.
Anxiety disorders, left untreated, are extremely unforgiving and debilitating.
#VRNMW
He has had to handle expectations and pressure all his career . What went so wrong past 20 months suddenly ? Is it lack of trust in body , is it fear of injury , is it bad movement or is it all the above amounting to zero confidence
We’ve discussed it here many times. Chloro said it very well.
Yes he’s had to handle it all his career but over time that has taken its toll and contributed towards the problem.
Ever worsening OCD, time violation rule, injuries, not trusting his body, combining to make anxiety a disorder for him.
In short, he’s burnt out.
If he is burnt out he should take a break and come back when ready . No point playing like this . He says motivation is there but it’s all about execution on court. Also practice not translating to matches indicates he is not able to handle grind of competition and is tight all the time.
I am not sure that the motivation is there. Rafa may say it is, but his actions on the court say otherwise. He doesn’t seem to be mentally present in matches these days. Doing the same thing in matches and not adjusting when needed, is a sign that something is wrong.
If Rafa is indeed burned out, then there may not be an answer. But getting the services of a sports psychologist would be worth doing.
Yep, I think he’s burnt out. I doubt that there’s a way back when to me his mind is gone.
I think sometimes we have to accept reality that Rafa has declined and there’s no way back for him when the game around him has changed and everyone else has improved or evolved and he’s being left behind.
He has lost his power, speed, serve, belief, nerve and mental strength. He’s now at best a tier two player so we have to not expect much from him in order not to get disappointed.
These days, I try not to watch his matches live but record them and watch them later. I can’t stand the stress and don’t like screaming at the tv screen and getting frustrated. Not expecting much from him now after he failed himself (and those who believe in him on clay).
The results of the last few months, from Oct 15 till mid Jan 16, perhaps they were just mirage. We should be clear of any illusion by now.
Anyway, we should be happy he has won 14 slams and being no.1 for 141 weeks and he will be remembered as the greatest clay court player ever.
This RG will tell if Rafa has any chance or He should simply say goodbye. I doubt he will hang around if he can’t win. What disturbs me is he will be remembered as a guy who went out on a low rather than a high. How I wish he had grabbed 2 of the finals he lost earlier like ao2012 or wimby 2007 . I would have been happier facing what we are today as 7 slams off clay would never have the argument that he has won majority on clay.
9 months still left but for now 2016 worse than 2015. Shocking to even say this.
I have some of my own ideas, but have been hesitant to post them here. It’s obvious that something is terribly wrong with Rafa. Doing the same thing over and over even when it’s not working, is a sign to me that his mind is just not there. He used to be the best at changing tactics mid match and making adjustments. His mind was always working. Now that does not seem to be the case.
The mind is so important in this sport. When anything goes wrong mentally, then it spells big trouble. Rafa’s fierce will to win, that competitive spirit and desire, was one of his greatest attributes. Now that quality seems to be gone. He easily could have won this match. But he didn’t. That’s been a pattern with him for the last year. Losing matches that he should have won, was even in a position to win. That’s nothing like the Rafa that I have watched all these years.
I would only have hoped that he might have tried to get some help from a sports psychologist. We’ve all talked about this for quite some time. Maybe mentally it is just gone, but I would have hoped that Rafa could get some help to see if it could come back.
That was not the real Rafa out there tonight. That was not the Rafa who would fight to the end and find a way to win. I wish he would come back because I do miss that Rafa. But now I wonder if he ever will.
He will not unless he wants to and is willing to do anything it takes to make it happen. Reset expectations and hope for the best but expect nothing .
His pressers are more irritating than his play. When one is in denial it is more frustrating to watch the person as we know he is just not doing what it takes.
Even his coaches interviews are irritating . The entire team Rafa included is giving frustrating pressers .
Where did the Nadal of abudabhi or Doha disappear. Is the hammering against Novak in Doha final responsible for this sudden turnback for the worse ?
One more thing. I have been saying that a champion always has one last great run in him. That’s what I believe and what I have seen many times in this sport. I thought that it would be so for Rafa. I would really hate to see him end his career this way.
Rafa may play easier now on as he is not favorite even on clay. All tourneys now on are big ones where big players will play and Rafa will not be favorite anywhere to win it all.
Last year he was still favorite on clay and people expected him to turn it around on clay.
That’s only silver lining I see.