RICKY THE “DIMONATOR” TENNIS PREVIEW AND PREDICTION FOR THE ATP MONTE-CARLO FINAL: NADAL VS. RAMOS-VINOLAS

Written by: Staff on 23rd April 2017

RICKY THE "DIMONATOR" TENNIS PREVIEW AND PREDICTION FOR THE ATP MONTE-CARLO FINAL: NADAL VS. RAMOS-VINOLAS

epa05923662 Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain during their final match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 23 April 2017. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER |

Ricky’s preview and prediction for the Monte-Carlo final: Nadal vs. Ramos-Vinolas

By Ricky Dimon

Rafael Nadal and Albert Ramos-Vinolas will be squaring off for the third time in their careers when they clash in the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on Sunday afternoon. Both of their previous meetings have gone the way of Nadal; 6-3, 6-0 on the red clay of Barcelona in 2013 and 7-6(4), 6-2 at the same tournament one year later.

It is safe to that Ramos-Vinolas is not getting to face his heavily-favored compatriot in the most ideal of settings. After all, Barcelona and Monte-Carlo are two of Nadal’s favorite events. He is a a nine-time champion at the former and will become a 10-time champ of the latter if he prevails on Sunday.

Of course, clay is also by far Ramos-Vinolas’ best surface. Playing the best tennis of his career right now, the world No. 24 is 19-11 this season and 16 of his wins have come on the slow stuff. This is his second final of the year (fell to Pablo Cuevas in Sao Paulo) to go along with three other semifinal finishes and three other quarterfinal showings–all on clay. Ramos-Vinolas punched his ticket to this week’s final by beating Renzo Olivo, Carlos Berlocq, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic, and Lucas Pouille, winning his last three all in three sets.

“I improved my tennis a little–my backhand a little bit,” Ramos-Vinolas answered when asked about his hot streak. “I improved my physical condition. I improved a little bit my mental condition. I also have more confidence. I think there are a lot of things that are going better. It helps me get better results than before.”

“He’s playing better than ever,” Nadal said of Ramos-Vinolas. “He’s winning huge matches during the whole week. He’s playing with big confidence, with great spirit and fight, overcoming tough situations in every match, and playing a high level of tennis all the time.”

Nadal had no such trouble making his way to the Monte-Carlo final. The fourth-seeded Spaniard needed three sets to get past Kyle Edmund in his opener before raising his level to engineer more emphatic beatdowns of Alexander Zverev, Diego Schwartzman, and David Goffin. Nadal is now 62-4 lifetime at this event and 23-5 overall in 2017.

If those records are not daunting enough, Ramos-Vinolas is going up against event bigger odds because Nadal is 41-1 lifetime at the ATP level against fellow lefties on red clay. Nor will it help that the underdog has a trio of three-setters in his legs and is playing in the first Masters 1000 final of his life.

Pick: Nadal in 2