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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come on rafa ! BAGEL please
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.
I’m not too keen on the white shirt.
It’s all too bland, no? The whole outfit……..
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.
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”
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.
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.
NID. GSM, Rafa
whats up wid Pospy?
Why do you ask? Isn’t he due to play shortly?
Gulbis out…….
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
did not know ritb. thought both matches happened simultaneously
Vamos Rafa, this is how you do it……..in straights!!!!!!
good match 🙂
Unbelievable! To think that anyone thought that Gulbis might take a advantage of being in Ferrer’s draw.
Well done, Rafa!
brief recap – https://tenngrand.com/2013/08/27/nadal-rolls-over-harrison-in-u-s-open-first-round/
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….
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.
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. 🙁 🙁
ed251137@August 27, 2013 at 6:44 am
TennisTV.com doesn’t show GS tournaments.
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.
The match Dutra Silva – Pospisil was interrupted at 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(9), 4-0.