A completely meaningless match in terms of future bearing on the tournament will take place when fellow Spaniards Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer collide at the World Tour Finals on Friday. Nadal has already clinched the group, while Ferrer is out.
Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will be facing each other for the 30th time in their careers when they wrap up their round-robin campaigns at the World Tour Finals on Friday afternoon.
Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 23-6, but it stands at a far more competitive 5-4 in Nadal’s favor on hard courts. The two Spaniards most recently squared off in their only meeting of 2015 on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo, where Nadal survived a quarterfinal test 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
Fast forward seven months and this is a strikingly different world No. 5. So far this fall, Nadal has finished runner-up in Beijing and Basel, made a run to the Shanghai semifinals, and reached the quarters in Paris. At none of those four events, however, did he perform better than he has through two London matches. Nadal cruised past Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-2 then erased Andy Murray 6-4, 6-1.
This is the first time since Rome in 2013 that the 14-time major champion has defeated two top-four players in the same tournament.
Ferrer also stormed into the O2 with plenty of momentum, having captured recent titles in Kuala Lumpur and Vienna. But once again a steep step up in competition has proven to be too much for Ferrer to handle. The seventh-ranked Spaniard lost his opener to Murray 6-4, 6-4 before blowing a 5-2 first-set lead against Wawrinka and falling 7-5, 6-2.
Ferrer’s baseline game has been solid this week, but his serve has given him no chance so succeed against the best players in the world. In two outings, the 33-year-old has combined for zero aces and 11 double-faults (eight against Murray, three against Wawrinka).
A proverbial “dead” match is not a particularly enthralling proposition for the fans, but if you could pick two players to contest such a match, Nadal and Ferrer would be the two. Their effort levels can never be questioned regardless of circumstances. Unfortunately for Ferrer, Nadal’s best effort vs. his own best effort is a significant mismatch right now.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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If Im not wrong Rafa had a set point in the first set. He could have won the match by now…..
He’s making hard work out of it. How I wish he has a better serve and earns some cheap points … I blame Toni for not developing Rafa’s serve from young.
absolutely! he would have won a lot more…. Toni helped him a lot in many aspects but he messed this one up
The 2nd set stats, Part 1:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CURErNmWcAANQgX.png
🙂
The 2nd set stats, Part 2:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CUREtkoWEAA2E0x.png
Ferrer went from 14 winners in set 1 to 3 in set 2
Wow. Rafa ain’t losing this!
Too cute with the dropper.
Rafa was supposed to take it easy today but now his competitiveness took over and he is trying hard to win. Rafa is going to pay tomorrow against king nole. He really shouldn’t be excreting himself like this on a meaningless match.
But this is good now!
Rafa wins a few points for this match. If I was the coach I will tell nadal to tank today because he needs everything to have a shot to beat dojokovic. Too bad nadal going to be gased out tomorroe
this is a nightmare
We’ll see. But I had to laugh when suddenly bam! Rafa shifted gears 😀 Ferrer tried to match him and the set I thought was a slam dunk, for one or the other, turns into a match!
It could be that Rafa wants more match play.
He’s getting that with a vengeance!
All this for a dead rubber. The first game in this set lasted longer than many whole sets 🙁
First game in the set is a glimpse of what Nole needs to be expecting tomorrow, is how I’m seeing it. I don’t know exactly why Ricky said this is a nightmare.
Hawkeye: if you’re watcing. Hope you’ve clocked it’s hot in the O2 but Rafa’s not dripping from the face today.
Novak is in his Darth-Vader Crio Chamber sipping a non alcoholic Daiquiri right now
Rafa better win this now; spends so much energy and may affect his match tomorrow. He has himself to blame for serving and playing so poorly when serving for the first set.
This match is going too long. Perhaps Rafa feels he should go for this 200 points because he knows he is losing tomorrow.
Thats possible
Definitely great logic. 200 point consultation prize lol
Plus the $167,000.
#PocketChange
will somebody please shoot ferrer?? this is going on forever….
He jammed his foot and is treading gingerly. That’s all he needs 🙁
is not auspicious that rafa is serving second….a few mistakes or ferrer winners and he’s out after expending all this expletive effort…
ferrer did not even show up in his previous matches and he is killing himself on the court today…
yeah…he’s really getting on my nerves….
I heard the collective sigh of relief from here 🙂
I have been so frustrated watching this, that I didn’t even want to comment. Rafa having an issue with his foot is all he needs. This is all for nothing. It’s something that Rafa is going to have to change. He needs to win sets when he’s up two breaks. This should have been over.
It’s going to be insane if Rafa loses after all this effort.
This is bad news for the semis.
Oh and Rafa doesn’t need more match play when he’s going up against Novak tomorrow.
Okay, Rafa finally gets the break! Now serve it out and end this, Rafa!
YES!!! now serve it out rafa…..
He has to serve this out. I can’t stand it anymore.