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.
“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.
Topics: Atp, Federer, Mutua Madrid Open, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Steve Johnson, Tennis
-@Dimonator REPORTS ON @RafaelNadal’s QUEST FOR #MADRID THREE-PEAT BEGINS AGAINST @SJohnson_89- http://t.co/Qm1ypo7E0X #MutuaMadridOpen #ATP
RT @10sBalls_com: -@Dimonator REPORTS ON @RafaelNadal’s QUEST FOR #MADRID THREE-PEAT BEGINS AGAINST @SJohnson_89- http://t.co/Qm1ypo7E0X #M…