Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka will be going head-to-head for the 11th time in their careers when they collide in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Friday night.
Nadal is a perfect 10-0 lifetime against Wawrinka, including 5-0 on hard courts, and the Spaniard has never even dropped a single set. They have faced each other twice this season, with Nadal cruising 6-2, 6-4 in the Madrid final and 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the French Open quarters. The No. 2 seed has advanced this week with straight-set victories over Alexandr Dolgopolov and Carlos Berlocq. Wawrinka booked his spot in the last eight by taking out Kevin Anderson in a third-set tiebreaker and Milos Raonic in straights.
Why Nadal will win, by Hasan Murad:
It is true that Nadal has a poor record in Shanghai (8-3), but given the miracles he has produced this year (67-4 record) that record is trivial. Defying odds, Nadal was able to vanquish the demons that had haunted him for nine years at the Cincinnati Masters–so there is no question he can do the same in Shanghai. Encouragingly, in his two victories so far the Spaniard has shown marked improvement from his lackluster showing in Beijing while also looking more energized and motivated. He has looked far more assured in his service games, yet to face break point, and he is dictating play more frequently with his vicious forehand.
Wawrinka has indisputably leapfrogged his level to new heights this year, but it remains to be seen whether his potent backhand can withstand the barrage of ferociously spun forehands from Nadal. The world No. 1 has never dropped a set against Wawrinka in 10 career meetings (five of them on hard courts) but this might change here. Wawrinka, though, is not playing at the same level he was at the U.S Open. Nadal is vigilant about this challenge and he will come out of the gates firing on full throttle to pile the pressure on early and often.
Pick: Nadal in two tight sets
Why Wawrinka will win, by Ricky Dimon:
This may be a different Nadal than in year’s past given his ridiculous current form, but that does not discount the fact that the Asian swing is his worst time of year. For example, he is 6-3 lifetime in three appearances at this Shanghai event in matches that did not end in retirement. Nadal is still playing stellar at the end of his hard-to-believe 2013 campaign, but the start of the fall season did not go particularly well. The current world No. 1 almost lost to Fabio Fognini in Beijing then got handled in routine fashion by Novak Djokovic in the title match.
Can Wawrinka capitalize? Like Nadal, the Swiss is not quite as on fire as he was at various points throughout this year–but he is still on course to wrap up the best season of his career in impressive fashion. Wawrinka’s scalp of Raonic was an especially outstanding one given that the Canadian captured the Bangkok title and finished runner-up to Juan Martin Del Potro in Tokyo. One-handed backhands are generally vulnerable against Nadal, but Wawrinka owns one of the best in the business and it should hold up against his opponent’s spin especially on a hard court amidst night conditions. He has never done it before, but Wawrinka has the big serve and firepower off both wings required to defeat Nadal.
Pick: Wawrinka in three
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“but it remains to be seen whether his potent backhand can withstand the barrage of ferociously spun forehands from Nadal. ”
The answer is NO. not yet stan… better luck next time
RT @SI_BTBaseline: “Del Potro says he’s over his fever. He also said Rafa was unbeatable right now. So…there you go. #atp”
Rafa has held all 28 service games this week.
I am really really happy about this…he is back to the high serving standards..he lost serve multiple times to giraldo, fognini,kohls in beijing…massive improvement
I think Rafa’s performance in Beijing was a combination of it having been the first tourny after a long break (post USO) and nervousness from meeting a set goal, wrestling the #1 from Djokovic, which would set the stage for ending the year as #1. Now he is playing relaxed but with steely determination. If he was still nervous he would have dropped that TB against Wawa after letting go of so many mini-breal opportunities.
RT @juanjo_sports: “What a tennis player. So very smart. So very clutch. #Nadal”
#AreThereAnyDoubtingThomasesOutThere
haha thanks for the tweets
@duecy, his backhand does hold up a lot of times against rafa’s forehand but it is certainly NOT as effective as it is against Djokovic, Murray ! nowhere near that.. rafa makes it too difficult for him to consistently step up the court with his backhand…he is able to do that agaisnt nole and muzz frequently..
but of course, its not only about stan’s backhand..there is a lot more to it ! The point you raised is also valid
@vamosrafa
Fleming said, after an especially brilliant, backhand winner from Stan, “all he has to do to beat Rafa is to play like that 100% of the time.” Lol…”all” being operative word. Love Fleming, he is soooo dry.
Agree with you re the trouble he causes Andy though.
And the magical maestro Tendulkar has retired. Never to be replaced.
Two more matches to go,Deucey. For Sachin
he was the man
I wish him all the best, hope he has a brilliant retirement. Only ever seen him on TV. Have u seen him in real life vmk1?
If you didn’t see the tiebreaker or wish to see it again, here it is:
Rafael Nadal Vs Wawrinka ATP Shanghai Masters Open 2013 Quarter-Final, 1st tiebreak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L9a5kOCZKM
The tiebreak duration: over 20 minutes.
nice. was a good one.
Pseudofed: “If Stanford is going to win this, I’ll eat my racquet (the small, not the big one).”
RITB, you were not the only one experimenting in the kitchen 🙂
^^Hahaha! Good to know……..
I am not putting my Ipad on the line again. The idea that Stan would beat Rafa, let alone take a set was completely unfathomable to me………….Okay, in the TB, I could see Stan shading it for the first time but I never, ever panicked. I knew Rafa would win even if he went a set down……….
Well, we all know, that Ricky likes to put the spice of the contrarian into his predictions now and then. And he WAS right about Wawa taking out Raonic 🙂
Ahhh Tiggy. No one says it like him, no?
“At 10-10 in the tiebreaker, Nadal noticed that Stan was a step or two—just a step or two—farther back in the court than normal. So he took that split-second opportunity and hit a shot he hadn’t played all day, a forehand drop shot. Wawrinka could only wave at it as Nadal went up 11-10 and closed the set a minute later. That drop shot, at that moment, isn’t how you go 24-0 in sets against someone. It’s how you become No. 1 in the world.”
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/10/shanghai-nadal-d-wawrinka/49429/#.Ulgre1Bg-NM
#GettinTiggyWidit
Tiggy projected Rafa to fall to Delpo. Let’s see how it goes tomorrow. I expect another tight match tomorrow, at least the first set. Delpo would like to seal his WTF participation with a win, Rafa would be a step closer to securing the YE#1 with a win.
Vamos Rafa!
Haha, now the Tennis-X federazzi think holdserve and I are one and the same!
Although I did find out Holdserve was female. I’d always assumed otherwise. Funny the assumptions we make sometimes.
I’ve also been accused of being willmw101 and conspirator.
Well, one out of three ain’t bad.
^^Rafans, you all look/sound the same, no?
Rafa Delpo will be tight..mainly coz the fast court
Rafa has to bank on gassing out Delpo by moving him around.
Rafa’s comments.
— When asked about the first set, Nadal said, “[It was] very tough. I think I played a great set. But the court is fast. His serve was huge. He came to the court with that determination to hit every ball by taking the ball earlier, hit the ball very quick [and] go for the big shots in every moment. So [it] was very difficult to stop him.
“[The] positive thing [was that] when he was playing well, I was playing well too. I was able to resist. If I was not playing well, I [was] going to lose that set. After that, I was able to maintain the level.”—
http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/10/11/rafa-roundup-october-11-2013-nadal-shanghai-interview-videos-photos-wawrinka-shanghai/
Full match:
Nadal vs Wawrinka Shanghai 2013 QF HD PART1 – the 1st set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h98sL8pQbgY
Nadal vs Wawrinka Shanghai 2013 QF HD PART2 – the 2nd set
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zafagkV_Y
deucy,
I think you made an excellent point regarding Stan. It is a mental thing with him. It’s not about his single handed backhand not holding up against Rafa, because he does have other weapons. He has a great forehand, takes the ball early, a strong serve, other weapons that he can use to try to beat Rafa.
It’s a mental thing. So many times their matches go the way of this one. The first set is extremely close, many times going to a tb. Rafa wins, then Stan just goes away in the second set. That’s just the lack of belief that he can win.
I am pleased to be wrong about Stan getting a set off Rafa this time. I had such a bad early morning. I woke up around 5:15 am and turned on the tv in my bedroom. What did I see? Djoker having a meltdown against Monfils! I had to rub my eyes when I saw that Monfils won the first set in a tb. So there was Djoker smashing his racket and screaming like a madman. So I realized that Rafa’s match got backed up. I just stopped my recording and erased it. Then I woke up about two hours later and turned on the tv again. Rafa was playing Stan. So I set my recording. Then I woke up again at 8:00 am. The recording had stopped. So I turned it on just in time to see the last point as Rafa won the match!
I went back to sleep very happy! I loved watching the video here of that tb! Wow! I can’t wait to see the replay later on the tennis channel. I think Tignor had it right about that drop shot from Rafa at 10-10 in the tv. Genius!
I am feeling very good about how Rafa is playing. I watched his match with Berlocq a few times and the more I saw it, the better I felt. This is a good win against Stan. Rafa is playing so much better overall in Shanghai. He’s much more aggressive, serving well and so focused.
The semi with Delpo will be tough. I don’t care what Delpo says, he will go out to win. Rafa needs to try to wear him down and run him all over the place. Delpo will try to keep the points short with big serving.
NNY, we have posted highlights of the match in the recap of Nadal-Wawrinka match so you watch them if you missed the match 🙂
vamosrafa,
Thanks so much for this. I did watch the highlights until I got to see the replay of Rafa’s match. 🙂
Some mental thing when you lose 0-11 without even winning a set!!! According to Tignor, this is one of the reasons why Stan loses to Rafa:
“Nadal, with his lefty spin, is murder on all one-handers, but he’s especially good at defusing Stan’s. Against everyone else, it’s a weapon; against Rafa it’s a liability.”
Why is it so hard for some people to give Rafa his due. why??????
how is that NOT giving Rafa his due?
Yes! How is that not giving Rafa his due? I don’t get it at all. If Stan can’t beat Rafa because he mentally isn’t up to it, what more do you need?
I honestly believe that some just disagree for the sake of it.
What I want to know is, why is it so hard for some people to just let Rafa fans support him in their own way? Why look for something to complain about?
Honestly, it’s really getting to be a bit much. I simply cannot fathom how anyone could think that what I said is anything but a tribute to Rafa!
Ricky, it’s not giving Rafa his due because some are implying that Stan loses against Rafa rather than Rafa winning against him. Basically, that Rafa only wins by default because of Stan’s mental block.
@ nadine
If you saw the tie break you will have seen how close it was. It could’ve gone either way. The fact it didn’t plus the fact that Stan served a double fault at a crucial moment, suggests to me that he has a problem between his ears, besides a one handed backhand. Wonder how one handed left handers fare against Rafa, can’t be too many of them about though.
@NNY
It seems very hard work being a Rafa fan sometimes.
@duecy, Zeballos is one…LOL
deucy, I saw every bit of the tiebreak. Yes it could have gone either way, no one can deny that. Wawa had to invest so much to take Rafa to the edge that he had nothing left after the 1st set. Stan had used all the tools in his box in the first set so when Rafa found solutions to those, Stan had no more answers.
It’s a disservice to Rafa’s talent for solving problems to imply that Stan would beat him, because Rafa would not be able to cope with his tactics if Stan put his mind to it..
and yeah, its a combination… rafa does make his backhand less effective, fact ! but there is surely more to it… stan lacks the belief against rafa may be? not calm on big points..
It may be true that Stan has a mental block against Rafa but then again you can say the same for the rest of the Top 40 guys who have a losing record against Rafa. More specifically, it turns out that the players on tour who are without wins against Nadal are: Wawrinka, Gasquet, Almagro, Matthieu, and a couple of guys I don’t remember. What do three of these guys have in common?
Three are right-handed players with one-handed backhands.
Since there aren’t many one-handed backhands left, it is logical to assume, and conclude, that Nadal’s game is basically anathema to a righty with a one-handed backhand. If anything, Fed has done well to keep the Head-to-Head as close as it is, compared to the others that is.
Now you know why I was happy to put my Ipad on the line. Hell has a better chance of freezing than Rafa losing to Stan, all things being equal.
vamosrafa,
Yes, it is a combination of factors. The one handed backhand can be exploited by Rafa. But as you said, there is more to it..
As for those guys mentioned who all happen to have a one-handed backhand, have all of them never even won a set against Rafa like Stan? The answer is no. They may not have been able to win, but they have been able to make the matches competitive, especially Almagro. I still remember that match in the quarterfinals at the 2009 RG. Almagro gave Rafa his toughest match. I think it was two tb’s and the last set was very close. I think it was 6-4.
Players like Wawrinka, Gasquet, Almagro are not one trick ponies. As I said about Wawrinka, he has a powerful forehand that he hits very early. It can do a good deal of damage. He has a really good serve that can earn him easy points. He is a very aggressive player.
So it’s not just about the one-handed backhand. There is simply no denying the importance of mental strength, confidence and belief.
That’s total baloney to even imply that saying Stan loses because of a lack of mental strength or belief means that Rafa wins by default! Just absolute nonsense. That is not what I was saying at all.
Deucy is more than capable of speaking for herself. I agreed with her. It’s positively laughable that anyone could somehow twist or distort those statements to think it was somehow not giving Rafa credit.
The reason why Stan has yet to beat Rafa or even take a set off him, is because of Rafa’s will to win. Rafa breaks other players mentally. He did it to Fed in the 2009 AO final in the fifth set. He did it to Djoker in the fourth set of the USO final this year. He just keeps on coming. Rafa is relentless and will continue to fight and not give up. He took away Stan’s belief that he could win against him.
That’s why it’s a tribute to Rafa. His tenacity and sheer competitive spirit. Any thought that this was in some way being disrespectful or not giving Rafa his due, is merely in the mind of the person saying it.
If someone is determined to look for imaginary insults to Rafa, then they will grasp at straws to make their point. It’s kind of desperate on a forum in which there is so much support for Rafa.
I wonder what Rafa would make of this discussion. I don’t know whether he would be amused or insulted. He is such a generous and gracious person himself, always giving credit to his opponents.
NNY & RITB
I hear what you are saying but cut Nadline some slack 😉
She has spent so many years defending Rafa against all comers and fighting his corner – albeit sometimes overzealously – she is prone to interpreting comments as being negative when the very opposite is true: as I know to my own cost only too well!
#ChiefRafaCheerleader
#KneeJerkReaction
ed,
I have known you long enough to respect your thoughts. However, I would say the same thing right back – I want her to cut me some slack! I really dislike another Rafa fan questioning my loyalty or twisting my words to mean something that they do not.
If you want to go after the people who really do disrespect Rafa and not give him his due, then go check out tennis warehouse. There are plenty of them there. But the best place to go would be to tennis-x. That’s where they live and breathe. That’s where they post comments openly saying that he is doping. That’s where one of their own bloggers posted that insane conspiracy theory about Rafa faking his knee injury just to take seven months off to work on his hard court game.
This is a place where there is overwhelming support for Rafa. Overzealousness can lead to a lot of bad feelings and discomfort. This is not where Rafa’s enemies are.
I want Rafa to win. Enough said.
ed112537 @ 7:03 am,
My comment at 4:06 am was not directed at @nadline at all, or her comments, although I happen to agree with her take that Rafa beat Stan as opposed to Stan losing to Rafa, if you catch my drift. And my comment was not directed at any other poster either. If I want to direct a comment at a poster, I will put their name at the top of my post, that, is my mo.
What I said is MY take on the Wawa/Rafa match-up, not a response to anybody, and certainly not meant to bait anyone. I have better things to do.
I stand by my opinion, which is widely shared I may add i.e. Rafa’s victory over Stan and a lot of the other righties with a SHBH is about the single handed BH to Rafa’s lefty spin. Rafa eats it for breakfast.
As I said, MY opinion.
NNY You have known Naddy for long enough to have gotten used to her trigger happy responses. But I do know where you are coming from believe you me.
I wont even go to TX and give them the pleasure of adding to their statistics for number of visits. And I’m bored to screeches by TW.
RITB: Just trying to pour oil on troubled water…………………
^^^LOL ed251137, without success thank goodness!
To be honest, the idea that I can log onto a tennis site, or any site for that matter, to engage in a “feud” with someone or people I don’t know is just well………..so “blah” to me now. It’s opinions after all, everyone’s entitled to one………….
I have learned to dis-engage from, and quite frankly ignore, drama. Much, much more fun to enjoy the game………….
It’s just that every time Rafa is talked down by someone a certain Rafan will agree with them. A Murray fan was defending Murray when someone pointed out that Stan can’t do to Rafa what he can do to Murray and Djokovic and a Rafan immediately agrees as usual, virtually saying that Stan’s tactics would beat Rafa anytime but his mental state gets in the way. Implying that Rafa hasn’t got enough to beat Stan’s tactics.