Rafael Nadal will be back in action at Wimbledon on Thursday with former Halle conqueror Dustin Brown on the other side of the net. Hasan Murad previews the second-round tussle.
It will be the second career meeting between Rafael Nadal and Dustin Brown when the two veterans take the court on Thursday at Wimbledon. The duo’s only previous meeting also took place on grass (second round of Halle in 2014), and astoundingly it was the current world No. 102 who swept Nadal away 6-4, 6-1 in less than an hour.
Nadal seemed to be in cruise control throughout his 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 opening-round victory against Thomas Bellucci on Tuesday, as the Spaniard struck 23 winners to roar into the second round.
Standing in his way is one of the two active players to have a winning record over the current world No. 10. Earning just his fourth win at Grand Slam level (third at Wimbledon) by overcoming Yen-Hsun Lu 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 6-4, Brown has made it past the first round of a major for only the third time in his career. Most notably, he beat former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt on his way to the last 32 at the All-England Club in 2013. Including his wins at the qualifying stages of Wimbledon, Brown has won six matches on grass this season–so he should be fairly comfortable on the green turf as he prepares to take on the two-time champion.
It is extremely difficult to predict how this match will pan out given the flashiness of Brown’s playing style. The big-serving German successfully shortened the rallies by approaching the net with great frequency against Nadal during their previous battle and judging by the high number of net approaches (winning 45 out of 73) in his opening match with Lu, he will attempt to replicate those winning patterns.
Nadal has been beaten in the second, first, and fourth rounds in the last three years, respectively, so his early-round matches at the Championships have proven to be quite ominous for the former world No.1. However, given the healthy state of his knees and better preparation on grass in 2015, he looks poised to overcome his mercurial opponent and snag his 41st career match win at Wimbledon.
Pick: Nadal in 4
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i hope fed doesn’t mysteriously play badly for the odd set or 2 thus ensuring rafito plays late under the roof….
not that his-fair-playness would ever consider such a thing….
(reports have it that he was seen with a carrier bag of 50 quid notes talking with the chair-umpire so i would imagine rafa might be disqualified for slow play anyway……)
last wimby fed said there should only be 10 seconds between points…..
even i-always-agree-with-rog henman said that this was a trifle unreasonable…..
nothing that leaves the glorious mouth could conceivably be unreasonable
indeed, is the definition of logos……verily what he speaks shall come to pass…..
thus ye speaks of the annointed one
the deliverer of the Jewish nation as prophesied in the Old Testament
we now have the minority in those who did not recognise him as the mashiah (and hence became an easy minority to scapegoat for the rest of time, sometimes called rastafarians, sorry, I mean rafans)…
and those who did recognise him as the mashiah (and went on to proselytize to everyone ever since, usually called fedfans, sports journalists, commentators and those who lined their pockets called tournament organizers, media moguls)
were he here among us these days surely he would roleth his eyes
wait, he is here among us, and does not roleth his eyes, what is happening here?
Fed averaged eight seconds between serves in his first match.
(He also thinks all slam matches should be played indoors and lefty topspins should be banned.)
brown shrown, rain shrain, what has me worried is that the Duchess crushed Rafa’s hand
at least it was only the serve tossing hand, not the one that grips the racket
Yes. She’s probably a Rafa detractor.
just seen a photo of rafa’s palm being treated with a spray of some kind…looks like his left hand!!
photo is on ricky’s twitter which i’ve just been reading if anyone wants to take a look!
LOL! Oh no, we can’t have the Duchess doing that to Rafa’s hand! 🙂
I’m at work so missed Roger’s attire, did he go in wearing any Daft Punk-ish gilded vest or something?
I didn’t notice what he had on when he came on court but he is playing in his normal attire.
Doin’ the Dancing Puppet (for ednumbers)…
blob:https%3A//vine.co/20779158-a20f-4265-bd3e-6e6f7091fa19
Try again but probably dumb moderation will block it (which means it will likely never be seen because ricky rarely reviews them but I digress)…
https://twitter.com/svenja_mastro/status/616614979094056960
is that rafito in the sunglasses ?
how unusual for him
Match stats (live):
Match stats (live):
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/index.html
Nadal runs into a grass court player,too funny!
I told you so. Selassie. Rastafari. Jah bless. Ya dun know? Now ya know.
right on cue,
the rash is back for a day or two
do not scratch
it will go away again