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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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.—
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!
ed251137 @August 27, 2013 at 6:44 am
—his pal —-
You can see and hear Kevin Skinner in the video below. Did you hear this voice?
Experts’ Views (WTA):
http://www.wtatennis.com/videos/article/2330459/title/miami-final-experts-views
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?
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
You can see and hear Luke Jensen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqr7AwZ-V4
what are your thoughts on luke jensen, augusta?
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.:)
better than Gimelstob