Rafael Nadal is safely through to the Wimbledon third round, but he will be eager to raise his level when he takes the court against Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday. Botic van de Zandschulp and Richard Gasquet are also aiming for a place in the second week.
(27) Lorenzo Sonego vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Nadal did enough to reach the third round at Wimbledon, but he will have to raise his level substantially if he wants to win a third straight Grand Slam title. In fact, he may require dramatic improvement if he simply wants to get past Sonego on Saturday. From the standpoint of offensive firepower and general grass-court prowess, Sonego is a much more dangerous opponent than Nadal’s first two foes in Francisco Cerundolo and Ricardas Berankis—both of whom took a set off the Spaniard. Two of the 54th-ranked Italian’s ATP final appearances have come on the green stuff, including the 2019 Antalya title. He reached the fourth round at the All-England Club last summer and so far this fortnight he has taken out grass-court specialist Denis Kudla in five sets and Hugo Gaston in straights.
Surprisingly, Nadal dropped the third set against both Cerundolo and Berankis and even trailed the fourth set of his opening match by a break. It has hardly been impressive by the 22-time major champion, but those were his first two grass-court matches since 2019. You have to think improvement is coming sooner rather than later, plus it’s never easy facing Nadal for the first time—which is the case for Sonego in this contest.
Pick: Nadal in 4
Richard Gasquet vs. (21) Botic van de Zandschulp
Van de Zandschulp and Gasquet will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time at a major this season. They previously faced each at the Australian Open, where it was one set all before Gasquet retired. The Frenchman had lost 10 games in a row at the time. Gasquet has been plagued by injuries throughout his career and at 36 years old things are not getting any easier. The world No. 69 was forced to play nine sets in his first two rounds, too, so he is definitely a question mark heading into the last 32.
Whereas Gasquet had to work hard against both Joao Sousa and Mackenzie McDonald, Van de Zandschulp mostly cruised past Feliciano Lopez and Emil Ruusuvuori—dropping just one set to the Finn. The 25th-ranked Dutchman has been in great form dating back to the summer of 2021 and this is his fourth consecutive appearance in at least the third round of a Grand Slam. Now he has a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon second week for the first time.
Pick: Van de Zandschulp in 4
WWW?
I think this is going to be a 5 setter.
Rafa clinches it in the end 6 – 3 in the last set
Sonego is tough on grass, but I’ll take Rafa in 4….and BDV in 3.
Rafa is third on centre tomorrow.
Nervous abt this as rafas level is just too patchy. Sonego is decent n Rafa has never played him ,so it will be tricky
Btw djoko n Carlos level is looking top notch .both have demolished their third round opponents
Rafa in 3, BVDZ in 3
Saw Alcaraz today ..he was scary good. Whole game is on fire ..37 winners to 8 ue .that’s just top line.
I didn’t watch him today but I was impressed with him in the first 2 rounds. With the pressure off him he is playing really well. He is playing way better here than at RG.
He could give Novak a scare..
Sinner against Alcaraz should be good but I think Alcaraz will win.
Alcaraz is way more talented n more firepower than sinner
Vithoven trouble for djoko ?
Jose Morgado said he ( Vithoven )would be the toughest test for NOvak before the final.
Dunno about that as I haven’t seen him play and anyway Alcaraz is surely tougher?
But he is a seasoned tennis journo so I thought I would pass on his opinion..
Sanju, I wass impressed by Alcaraz’s easy win, because Otte is actually good on grass, and he had done well in the last tournaments. But I was also surprised how Sinner dismantled Isner! Was there something wrong with Isner. I cannot remember that a healthy Isner did not even manage to escape into a tie-break!
Sinner vs. Alcaraz will be a very interesting meeting of two very talented young guns. But I think that Alcaraz will win.
He showed his finger to the physio in the match is what I read..plus sinner was serving lot of body serves
I am pretty nervous about tomorrow. Sonego has some real shot making ability and if Rafa leaves it to the fourth set again to play as he can then he might already have lost.
Before even if he was poor his opponents couldn’t really damage him. He could lose tomorrow if he can’t raise his game and play a solid match..
Amy..positive vibes. No uttering word lose
Sorry sanju!!😀😀
Am so super positive now I may explode!😀
Sanju,
Thanks for your positivity. It is helping calm my nerves as I watch Rafa struggling to get it together on grass.
From what I am hearing about Sonego, it is concerning. Rafa hasn’t played him either. I have to believe that Rafa will know he has to raise his game.
I remember you saying that Moya not being there is a problem for Rafa. You have said that from the beginning. So that also makes me nervous.
I will just have to cheer even louder for Rafa!
One would think that all the stars are aligning for Rafa to win Wimbledon (still want/hope to believe) this year but the way he is playing does not convince me he is going to be ready to challenge the joker/Alcarez or Nick.
As I said above YOU NEVER KNOW and one of the reason I believe he has slim chance (to win the title) is because all the heavy hitters (or players that can really challenge him early) are gone without facing him and he has time to fine tune his game. He got broken too easily nowadays…lot UE… some folks are saying that his rib issues may resurface again. All in all we rafans really have to be concerned.
I have Rafa to the Final and Novax winning, but now have severe doubts about another GS for NoVax. Maybe he needs to get vaccinated if Australia is still banning the unvaccinated, and he might as well get the jab before US Open season if that is still mandated. His chances for keeping up with Rafa are blowing by fast.
The rib issue did not surface entire RG where he played 4 hr plus matches vs Felix Novak n brutal rallies with zverev .why will it surface now.
Please let’s not screw our minds thinking any injury whatsoever ..foot is enough to worry abt..
I agree. The rib issue has resolved. Rafa had tough matches at Rag without having any rib problems. We don’t need to complicate our lives by bringing up an injury that has healed.
The foot is more than enough to worry about!
😉
At RG!
Why can’t Moya come here in second week if Rafa wins today ..rafa needs you Moya ..do it for him..having videocalls ,phone calls can never replace in person support
Right now this stupid lady is freaking me out. She has been creating havoc entire wimby.
God please keep rafa safe
https://mobile.twitter.com/TennisPodcast/status/1543178937597136897
What is that all about? I don’t understand. Who is this lady?
A player who was to play doubles with Tan who defeated serena…she posed with rafa yest n today said she has covid ..
Oh no. That’s all I needed to hear. In Rafa’s last post match presser he said that he is staying inside and not going out. So he is trying to take precautions.
It is suddenly the invasion of Dutchies 🤗
Gasquet in 5
Rafa in 4
I think Rafa will win his R3 match no matter how many sets it may go. I think Rafa is strong enough mentally to think of solutions on court to win the match.
I hope the playing conditions is better than when he played the R2 match. Djoko’s half of the draw has ideal conditions today, no rain and not much wind either.
I hope it’s sunny weather and no windy conditions when Rafa plays his R3 match.
Every tourney I hear the same thing! Someone always put of the blue is going to give Rafa troubles! I’m so tired of hearing that. Rafa always gets treated like the dog’s breakfast! Doesn’t Rafa”s 22GSs count for nothing?! I am not worried about Sonego to be quite honest, don’t care what anyone says. If Rafa loses it would most likely be bcoz he didn’t play his game!!! Simple! Now Vamos, Champ!!!
I agree zero respect or confidence in rafa…rafans are programmed to only worry , me included. This happens only with rafans..i rarely see fed or Novak fans worried unless it’s a big match…i don’t know what it is about us rafans that we even want to invent potential reasons to worry hehe.
Rafa play your game , buck up and win this damn title
Excuse me? I already said that Rafa will only lose if he doesn’t play his real game! This match is entirely on his racket!
My only point is that if he doesn’t play his real game he has an opponent who could take advantage in the way the others couldn’t.
I think Rafa will win another slam this year but his best slam after Rg is the US Open so it may well be there…
As I have said before, this match is entirely on his racket.
Amy i wasnt talking abt u or anyone .i said rafans in general ..we are a worried lot me included
Haha sanju!! Yes we are!!😀😀
PS before AO I was convinced Rafa was going to win multiple slams this year. I definitely think he wins another but that may well be the USO. I think Rafa much prefers to play after the warm up masters especially Canada where he seems to be very comfortable.
Amy .we have matches now middle Sunday is it ? I thought all fourth round matches on Monday ..has that changed
Yes it has changed sanju!
This year there will be matches on the middle Sunday for the first time…was announced earlier this year…
So no manic Monday when everyone plays! Good thing really..
PS next week it will get much hotter from the mid week onwards…
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. For myself, I know very little about Sonego. But I do see Rafa struggling. Fortunately, he does not have to play his best in the early rounds.
I tend to agree with Lucky. I believe that Rafa does have the advantage with his tennis brain and ability to make mid match adjustments. In a five setter he will always have the advantage. We have also seen him raise his level of play when needed. So the game on grass is there. He just needs to do it more consistently.
We have seen how much this means to Rafa. In his post match celebrations he has been happy and joyous. We know Rafa’s will to win.
Go get him Rafa!
I am not worried bout Sonego at all. He may well turn out to be dangerous – but if Rafa cannot deal with players like Sonego, he is definitely not ready to reach the final, or even win Wimby this year! How is he supposed to win against the likes of Kyrgios, Alcaraz, Fritz or even the Djoker if both of them reach the final? And if Rafa is not ready to face these opponents, an early loss is not the worst thing. This year there are no points to be gained anway, and it would be better for Rafa to rest and recuperate for the North American hardcourt events. A reasonably healthy Rafa is definitely one of the favorites for the USO.
2018 and 2019 Rafa played great grass court tennis, and the hype was justified. But we have not seen anything like this in Rafa’s first two matches. Let’s wait and see, what happens today…
I agree with you littlefoot 1000%
I love everything about ure assessment!
Let the games begin!
😀😃 😀
I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a surprise winner this year if that makes sense…
Mid as in Wednesday onwards Amy ?
I just checked sanju and it’s not clear.
Probably will be around 23 pm Wednesday and Thursday which is warmer but not by a lot. But all forecasts say on Friday and the weekend it will be a lot hotter i e 26-28.
There should be no rain.
Sanju, did you see my comment yesterday where I quoted the Portuguese tennis journalist Jose Morgado who said that he thought Rijthoven would be Novak’s biggest test before the final? Interesting take. I haven’t seen Rijthoven play..
He has a Sampras like serve supposedly. He likes ghee big stage as he has beaten both meddy n Feliz at a grass tourney. Plus he seems fearless . He has even claimed he can beat Novak lol..now that last statement can be his undoing..Cheryl also feels he will give Novak a very hard time