RICKY DIMON REPORTS ON NADAL’S QUEST FOR MADRID THREE-PEAT BEGINS AGAINST JOHNSON

Written by: on 5th May 2015
Madrid Mutua Open tennis tournament
RICKY DIMON REPORTS ON NADAL'S QUEST FOR MADRID THREE-PEAT BEGINS AGAINST JOHNSON

epa04733856 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal performs during a training session at Caja Magica sport complex as part of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, 05 May 2015. EPA/CHEMA MOYA  |

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer could face each other in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, but Nadal–and Federer, for that matter–will not be looking that far ahead.

 

The fourth-ranked Spaniard has reached only one final (won Buenos Aires) in eight tournaments this season and he is coming off clay-court losses in Monte-Carlo (to Novak Djokovic) and Barcelona (to Fabio Fognini). Fognini is in otherwise disastrous form, so a quarterfinal rematch between those two is unlikely at best. Should Nadal advance two rounds, more likely adversaries in the quarterfinals include Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov.

Swiss tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka in action against Portuguese Joao Sousa during their second round match for the Madrid Open tennis tournament at Caja Magica sports pavilion in Madrid, Spain, 05 May 2015. EPA/ALBERTO MARTIN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You can expect to have more pressure when you [have points to defend],” the two-time defending Madrid champion explained. “I should have defended [other] points many weeks ago. That’s not the issue right now. I should have defended them before rather than now.

 

“I’m not worried. It’s part of the sport. Sometimes perhaps with longer injuries I managed to stay up in the rankings because I came back and I managed to win a lot of times. This time I haven’t been able to do that.”

 

Nadal, who is a modest 19-7 on the season, will look to get back on a winning track when he takes the court for second-round action against Steve Johnson on Wednesday. The two competitors have never faced each other.

 

Johnson owns 14 of his 40 career ATP-level match victories already this season after outlasting Alejandro Gonzalez 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) on Monday. The 54th-ranked American is coming off a second-round Houston setback against Sam Querrey and an opening loss in Monte-Carlo to John Isner.

Steve Johnson of USA returns the ball to John Isner of USA during their first round match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 13 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

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