U.S. Open R1 preview and pick: Nadal vs. Harrison

Rafael Nadal will look to stay undefeated on hard courts in 2013 when he kicks off his U.S. Open campaign on Monday. Up first for Nadal is Ryan Harrison.

Rafael Nadal and Ryan Harrison will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this season when they collide in round one of the U.S. Open on Monday afternoon. Their only previous encounter came at the same stage of the Indian Wells Masters, where Nadal prevailed 7-6(3), 6-2.

The second-ranked Spaniard eventually captured the Indian Wells title, just as he has at every hard-court event he has played this season. Nadal just pulled off the Montreal-Cincinnati double, a stretch that included wins over Jerzy Janowicz, Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, and John Isner. The 12-time Grand Slam champion is 53-3 overall for the season, which features an incredible nine titles–one of which is the French Open.

Harrison peaked as high as No. 43 in the world last summer, but 2013 has been a major disappointment. Although the 21-year-old American is just 11-8 at the ATP level this season, he has shown some signs of recovery throughout the summer. Harrison reached the semifinals in Atlanta, beat Lleyton Hewitt in Washington, D.C. before losing to Juan Martin Del Potro, and he got past Alexandr Dolgopolov in Cincinnati prior to a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 setback against David Ferrer.

A horrific draw continues a streak of bad luck for Harrison at Grand Slams: Robin Soderling in the first round of the French Open in 2011, Ferrer in the second round of Wimbledon in 2011, Marin Cilic in the first round of the 2011 U.S. Open, Andy Murray in the first round of the 2012 Australian Open, Djokovic in the second round of Wimbledon in 2012, Del Potro in the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open, and Djokovic again in the second round of this year’s Australian Open. This one has to be the worst of all given Nadal’s current form, and–once again–it likely won’t end well for Harrison.

This could be competitive for a while as Nadal gets settled into the tournament, but the No. 2 seed should roll in the end.

Pick: Nadal in 3, losing 11-13 games

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96 Comments on U.S. Open R1 preview and pick: Nadal vs. Harrison

  1. “No. 2 seed should roll in the end”

    Glad Ricky qualified that remark!

    Harrison keeps meeting top seeds in the early rounds and his ranking doesn’t really reflect the quality of his game. If Rafa starts slowly (as he is inclined to do in Slams) and Harrison keeps his cool (which is not always the case) then this opening round match could be more competitive than Ricky’s prediction. If Harrison can beat Isner he is no pushover – even for Rafa.

  2. I think it could be Rafa in straight sets. It depends on how he comes out in this first match. He usually does take a few rounds to get himself going, so it is possible that if Harrison comes out and plays like he’s got nothing to lose then he could get a set. But it’s not a given.

  3. I dont think Rafa will face any 1st round jitters. He has played a lot recently and won every match. He is full of confidence and will come all guns blazing.

  4. Rafa in easy 3 sets 😉 I agree with Atul ..however, rafa tends to get nervous in opening rounds of slams so a tough set or two would not be that surprising. I am more focused on HOW rafa plays…he had tough battles against gabashvilli and istomin in USO 2010 rnd 1 and rnd 2 respectively but there we had rafa and his opponents playing high quality tennis. harrison is too erratic

    • vamosrafa,

      I agree about three easy sets. As you said, if Rafa has a bit of the jitters then there could be a close set.

      Rafa had it tough against Gaba and Istomin in the early rounds in 2010 because he wasn’t anywhere near his best form and because they both played much better than their rankings. It was the big serve that got him through those matches.

      This time Rafa has had great preparation so I don’t expect him to struggle to find his game. A slam is a whole different thing than Masters tournaments and it can take a little bit to get used to the feel of the court and the longer matches, but this time I think Rafa is about as ready as he can be.

  5. US Open: Rafael Nadal’s pre-tournament presser transcript (August 24, 2013)
    http://rafaelnadalfans.com/
    Rafa confirmed once again that he has worked on his game to be more aggressive. And he likes to play on the hard court – that’s news to me!

    Excerpts.
    Q. /…/ Can you describe your mentality going into hard courts this year and what might be different?
    RAFAEL NADAL: I think you can play aggressive when you are playing well. That’s the first and important thing. Is true I’m trying to take the ball a little bit early, that I worked on my game to be a little bit more aggressive./…/

    Q. A lot of people here in America talk about hard courts being tough on the body. Do you think hard courts are tough on your knees or on your feet or something else?
    RAFAEL NADAL: I am not a doctor

    Q. Do they affect your knees much?
    RAFAEL NADAL: It would be great if some doctors create an opinion on that, but is something, is a conversation that we had hundreds of times in the past.
    You know, in the past sometimes I felt not free to talk a lot about these kind of things, because then seems that I was talking because I played much better on clay than on hard.
    Today I think I had good success on hard, too. I like the surface. I feel confident playing on hard. I like the hard court.—

    • Ed, certainly a lot of people get disappointed specially those who criticize him vocally that he’s only good on Clay a dirtballer, Now they heard different tune that may cause them unrest thinking about their idols chances now that Rafa has pronounced that he is confident and like the hardcourt haha

      I so wish Rafa win US Open this year..

      Vamos Rafa and good luck tonight on your first match.

    • Stone the crows! You come up with the best sayings! 🙂

      Has the world turned on its axis? Rafa likes playing on hard courts! 🙂

  6. Only once since 2007 has Rafa given up less than 13 games in the 1st round as he rarely plays great on his first day.

    #VamosRafa

  7. Nice, espn2 has switched from covering Rafa’s match to Sloane Stephens! Par for the course!

    So it’s espn3 for me now.

    Rafa up a break and serving for the first set.

  8. Rafa never plays his best in his first match. He won’t need to play his best to beat Harrison.

    He doesn’t need to go up two or three more gears right now.

  9. NNY: I’m watching the Eurosport lifestream, one of the commies is Taylor Dent: do you know who the other one is? The two of them have got verbal diarrhoea, talking to each other incessantly in that false matey manner that grates on the nerves. Ghastly.

    • ed,

      Do you get the same commentators as we do on espn3? Because these guys are so bad that I had to hit the mute button. They were trying to talk up Harrison earlier in the match, but now that he is down two breaks in the second set, they don’t have much to say.

      Are you watching the same thing I am on Eurosport lifestream?

  10. Rafa is just rolling over Harrison right now. 6-4, 6-2.

    Harrison just doesn’t seem to know what to do. Rafa served an ace to close out the second set. He is really looking good for a first match.

  11. ed and RITB, absolutely ! annoying commentators . The worst on the tour !

    taylor dent picked isner to win last year’s USO !

  12. set 2 was good stuff from rafa..he was aggressive and served well too.. he is just not willing to do much with the ROS today and he does not need to…

  13. yup, he has the best overhead on tour I think.. surely the best among the big 4 by a good margin ! rafa’s footwork to prepare for the overheads is MIND BOGGLING..hundred of tiny steps !!

  14. This is just ideal for rafa…making a strong start here and winning his match easily on MONDAY..he’ll now have two days off ! almost the perfect scenario, whatever rafa felt was lacking today, he is going to work hard on that in these two days…may be he’l practise the ROS more 😉

    Rafa is taking the forehand SO early now..I have never seen him hit the forehand this aggressively on consistent basis

  15. Rafa is feeling it now. He’s just toying with Harrison, who is completely lost. Of course espn2 is sticking with Sloane Stephens so I have to endure the horrific commentators on espn3.

  16. I think Rafa’s groundstrokes are looking quite impressive in this first match. It’s not just the forehand. It’s the dtl backhand now. That’s bad news for Rafa’s opponents. It shows just how important confidence is to Rafa’s game. Those wins at Montreal and Cincy have given him a huge boost.

    He is looking the best I have seen him in a long time on hard courts.

    • Usually Rafa is scrappy in his first games of Slams. This is the best I have seen him play in a first rounder in a Slam, clay included.

  17. Rafa says – BE afraid, be very, very afraid!!!!

    So it looks like Davydenko may be meeting Rafa after all! I really thought Davy was going home but he finally won it in five!!

    • We don’t know if it’s going to be Davy. Verdasco just won the third set in his match with Dodig. It’s two sets to one Dodig. So one of those guys could play Davy.

  18. These double faults by rafa…he had a streak against berdych at cincy..most of them are happening when rafa is trying to hit a second serve up the middle on the ad court ..double faults from rafa are always surprising but not so surprising in a sense that this particular 2nd serve has always been the most difficult for rafa to execute… he has been varying his 2nd serve more ..

  19. Rafa is getting the job done but not stretching himself too much, although he is making too many UE for my lik

    Rafa is doing a good job without stretching himself but he has to watch the UEs.

    • What I am not liking is the sudden influx of double faults in Rafa’s game………………As vamosrafa says, this is function of him trying to vary his second serve, a shot which used to be so vulnerable.

  20. Let the unforced errors flow in these early matches as long as those errors are aggressive errors..

    p.s, harrison is a good volleyer..esp the forehand volleys are great…not many players today who can hit the forehand volley so well

    • I agree about the UE’s. Rafa is trying some things with his second serve and testing his game a bit. It’s to be expected. I am fine with him making UE’s because he is being aggressive. This is what he has to do to win this tournament.

  21. RT @AndrewCastle63: “It is hilarious how good you have to be to win points against #rafa Whether he ends up winning this US Open or not he is just unreal now”

  22. I feel sorry for Harrison having to play Rafa in the 1st round. He needs a lucky break to move up the rankings because he’s got a good game far better than Raonic’s.

  23. I think rafa has improved the quality of his 2nd serve this season…for me the effect has been a little more noticeable post wimbledon…he is hitting it a little bigger and with more spin too sometimes… I don’t mind these DFs coming in relaxed matches like this one.. He is just trying to improve and we all know rafa’s career has been all about IMPROVEMENT. relentless pursuer of improvement

    • I was trying to keep track of the speeds of Rafa’s second serves at Cincy. When he’s in the states then I don’t have to worry about converting from kilometers. I noticed that he has been hitting his second serves in the 90’s in many of his matches. I can check it out when I watch replays of his matches. I can’t be bothered checking the speed when I am watching it live. He is putting more speed on that second serve, which has always been vulnerable.

      I do agree that Rafa is experimenting and testing out his second serve in a match where he knows that the opponent can’t hurt him. This is the time to do it. So I am also okay with the double faults. I think it will pay dividends later in the tournament.

  24. Rafa at the net : 25/31 , NICE… 31 ventures into the net…showd you how keen rafa was to finish points off … just about the perfect start

  25. Who does Rafa play next? I understand the Pospisil/Silva match was rained out at some point, did they finish?

    So Ol’ man Fed gets the rain delay treatment and will have one day’s rest while Rafa has 2. About time Rafa got all the luck….

  26. I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t showing Fed’s match. I kept checking espn2 to see if it was on, but nothing. So Fed got rained out! Now he knows how the other players felt. Rafa doesn’t yet know his next opponent. That Pospisil/Silva match looks like it could go five sets.

  27. Does anybody know when ATP livestreaming starts? I know it’s blacked
    out in the States but cant understand why there’s nothing available for the rest of the world.

    I cant endure two weeks of Taylor Dent and his pal ;-(

    • Dont know if I should own up to this, but took my laptop to bed to watch the end of Rafa’s match but because I had muted the sound I promptly fell asleep and missed the third set. 🙁 🙁

      • S***t!

        Didn’t realise that.

        Was banking on using Catch Up so I could get the odd night’s sleep over the next two weeks. Better start having long siestas in the afternoon.

    • ed,

      I watched Rafa’s match again on the tennis channel tonight. They posted the names of the commentators and they were Taylor Dent and Kevin Skinner.. Awful! Usually the tennis channel has decent commentators. I have a feeling that these are the two you watched, because you did mention Taylor Dent.

      I am lucky because I can watch espn2 and the tennis channel during the day. This way I can see matches I might not get to see. At night the tennis channel replays the matches and I got the chance to see Rafa’s match in its entirety. While it was on live I had to jump from the tv to the computer to watch it online when they were switching to other matches. That’s why I hate the early rounds.

  28. Post-match interview.
    US Open: An interview with Rafael Nadal (August 26, 2013)
    http://rafaelnadalfans.com/2013/08/27/us-open-an-interview-with-rafael-nadal-august-26-2013/

    Rafa praised Ryan Harrison.
    Rafa said he needed to adapt to the court and balls – the balls are slower than they were at the previous tournaments. He played a little bit further behind the baseline than at the previous tournaments.

    Excerpts.
    —Q. American men’s tennis, they’re looking for the next one. Ryan, what does he have to do to get into the upper class?
    RAFAEL NADAL: /…/ He has a good serve. He has good movements on the net. He has good shots from the baseline. So he’s able, you know, to keep improving and to be more regular, more stable, play with less unforced errors, so will have his chance. I am sure on that. We’ll see what’s going on. But he’s one of the possible future top players.

    Q. What aspects of your game were working best for you today and what do you think you need to improve on in the later rounds of the tournament?
    RAFAEL NADAL: Today the conditions out there were very difficult, in my opinion, because normally this very big court, the winds goes one side. Can be very strong. But today the wind moves a lot around, changing directions all the time. That makes the match very difficult. But for moments I think I played well with my forehand. I was able to go to the net a few times, even if I lost a few times when I go to the net, the point. That’s the right thing to do. Even if I lost a few ones at the beginning, I was able to keep doing and having success later. Yes, I didn’t have a lot of breakpoints against during the whole match. That’s always a positive thing. I think two in one game, 15 40. For the rest of the match I was comfortable with myself. Then I played a little bit more behind the baseline than the previous tournaments. You need to keep adapting a little bit to the courts and to these balls that are different than the previous tournaments. The balls are a little bit slower. But for the rest of the thing, I played a very complete match. I’m happy with the way I am playing.—

  29. Very impressive display from Rafa. Harrison put up a decent display in the first set, some of the all-out shots he played were amazing. But still, Rafa was unstopable yesterday. I don’t know how good a barometer this win is, obviously people like S. Edberg will dimiss it as not important but this aggressive win by Rafa (how many net points did he win?) passes a clear message on to his adversaries. Rafa wants this!
    Vamos Rafa! one down and counting!

    • Yeah – the looks and the voice go together. lol.

      You would think there would be more competition amongst ex-players and coaches for this job. How the heck do the TV companies pick such moronic people and why don’t they they give them training and more guidelines on what is acceptable before unleashing them on us poor tennis fans?

  30. The other commentator they have had in the past years was Luke Jensen and he was equally pathetic. I think he’l be back for this year’s USO in the coming days

    • vamosrafa@August 28, 2013 at 11:51 am

      I don’t remember him. I searched for a video to hear his voice and embedded a video I found. Maybe the video is useful for those who recognize the voice and want to know the name of the owner of the voice.
      When watching Rafa’s matches I prefer to mute the commentators.:)

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