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Nadal Falls to No. 7 in the Live ATP Rankings

October 24, 2018
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Nadal Falls to No. 7 in the Live ATP Rankings

(I had two people emailing me already saying they can’t view the comments on my blog. This is because they were on the homepage and you actually have to click through to a specific post if you want to view the comments. The new theme does not come with a link to comments like on my old blog theme and I am trying to get the creators to change that. Please try to work with me on this. It is hard as it is with my limited knowledge in this area.)

Live ATP Rankings

Hey, folks. If you click the button above you will go to the Live Tennis Rankings website which I also have in my blog sidebar under the ‘What We’re Reading’. That is one of my favorite tennis websites to keep up with the rankings and I recommend it highly. As you can see Nadal has fallen to #7 in the live rankings, and unless he wins Madrid, he will probably stay there. I didn’t bother to calculate all the different scenarios that could play out this week. I just thought it was pretty significant that Nadal has already fallen so low.

  • Nadal’s Biggest Test Yet

And no doubt he deserves it. His form has been poor for almost a year now, and if he doesn’t win the French Open again this year that will probably become a permanent thing. I think Nadal is feeling loads of pressure and he has already started with his injuries and ‘I’m not the favorite’ routines. And that was after Boris Becker called Nadal the favorite for the French Open. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nadal was reacting to Becker’s statement. He hates being the favorite for anything and always downplays his chances.

Rafa-Nadal-img27435_668

He is currently probably under the most pressure he has ever been in his career. I think he knows he must win the French Open or it could be close to the end for him. And he may well fail to win it. The Djoker is facing a lot of pressure himself to complete the career slam, but not as much as Nadal I think. If the Djoker does not win the French it’s not gonna end his slam winning career, whereas in Nadal’s case it might. The Djoker is also playing much better than Nadal at present.

The Djoker knows he can still win the Fench Open in the future even if he doesn’t get it this year. Roger lost in the final three times to Nadal before he finally got the gap to win the title. The Djoker has only lost twice in the final, and he has several more year at the top left. Nadal is not the force he used to be and if the Djoker can’t take advantage this year he will surely be able to do so at some point in the future. But I still like his chances this year, even though he has had some tough losses to Nadal in Paris.

  • Tomorrow in Madrid

So Madrid already started on Monday, and none of the top four seeds have been in action yet. That means they will all be in action tomorrow. Roger’s draw is a tough one of course and he will begin against Kyrgios, who destroyed Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-3. That is a good indication of how poorly Roger was playing in Istanbul. Kyrgios had a good week in Estoril last week but then got routined in the final by Gasquet. Roger has never played against him and it should be a terrific match.

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More Federer Practice Photos

Kyrgios is dangerous to anyone but it looks like Roger found his clay court form in the nick of time and he must be the favorite. Then Nadal’s cakewalk draw will begin against Johnson. And if he wins he will play against Vani or Bolelli after both Anderson and Tomic already lost. So now his draw is even easier. Another player who did very well last week was Murray who won his first clay-court title in Munich. He may be a factor on clay this year after all…

He will open his Madrid campaign against Kohlschreiber who he also played in the final of Munich.Then finally Nishikori will be back against Goffin. So tomorrow the tournament really gets going and there are many good matches to look forward to. Even though the Djoker is absent it should be an interesting week. Hopefully, someone can stop Nadal from winning the title despite his cakewalk draw. That would really put the cat among the pigeons.

  • Federer Practice in Madrid

  • Federer Preview Interview for Madrid

The is in your court.

Posted in Uncategorized.

20 Comments

    1. Like I told in an earlier post there is a very real chance that Nadal actually falls below number 8 before the French Open. And he is almost certain to not be in the top 4 anyway unless he magically finds some form.
      Ru-an Reply: May 5th, 2015 at 10:31 pm Don’t be surprised if he does find form, Ajay. Handed a cakewalk draw he should at least make semis unless Stan magically finds some form and plays well enough to beat him. If he makes semis and plays Roger then Roger will probably be tired after Istanbul and a brutal draw in Madrid. The guy’s luck seems neverending, but I don’t believe it is luck anymore.
      Ajay Reply: May 5th, 2015 at 10:50 pm I don’t know if it is luck but he will probably need to go through Dimitrov/Stan, Federer/Berdych and Nishikori/Raonic. I think if he does do so then I guess we should just say well done. But I actually doubt it is going to happen. And anyway Nadal almost certainly cannot be the 4th seed at the French irrespective of what he does now.
      Ru-an Reply: May 5th, 2015 at 11:09 pm Dimitrov is clueless so I hardly think he is anything to worry about. Stan has been very poor of late. Won today but he can lose any time. Birdshit maybe but we all know mentally fragile he is. Kei is about the only sure thing, but a long way to go before the final. Nadal does not need to be 4th seed at the FO if he wins Madrid. He just needs a confidence boost and then #10 is in the bag.
      Ajay Reply: May 5th, 2015 at 11:48 pm Actually I agree with you. In fact I actually think if he wins Madrid or Rome he wins the French for sure.
      Ru-an Reply: May 5th, 2015 at 11:54 pm Exactly. Which is why I put so much emphasis on him not winning Madrid. In Rome, there is Djokovic to take care of him, but with his cakewalk draw in Madrid he has been thrown a lifeline.
    1. HI Ru-an, just a quick question to you….just read that Nadal is going back to his old racket instead of keep playing the new raquet he had used for a couple of matches, which I think he lost. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you for good blog on Madrid. Best, Dolores
      Ru-an Reply: May 5th, 2015 at 11:13 pm Hi, Dolores. I heard about that too. I guess he can change because he is struggling right now and has nothing to lose.
    1. Hi guys, I think we just saw the match of the year so far! Overall a great performance by both Federer and Kyrgios, ending in an epic final set tie-break. I know it wasn’t the result we all wanted but full credit to Nick for being so unbelievably clutch. Roger hit 50 winners to Nick’s 45, and had 36 UEs to Nick’s 41, and 17 aces/ 1DF to Nick’s 21 aces/ 2 DF so it was overall a pretty good performance. Even though it’s not a win, for some reason I’m actually feeling more positive now about the months ahead as this tennis was better than what I saw in Monte Carlo and Istanbul.
      Ru-an Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 8:03 pm Good comment Krish. It was a classic indeed. Kyrgios said afterward Fed is the GOAT and this was his best win so far, better than the one vs Nadal at Wimby. Probably Kyrgios was just slightly more clutch in the final breaker that got him the win, but extremely close match.
      rahan Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 8:45 pm Close indeed: total points RF 131/258 – Nick 127/258
      Krish Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 9:32 pm Absolutely agree Ru-an, and it’s good to see to be honest. Nick is the only one of these “young-guns” to have held his nerve in very tight situations. Here, he did well to come back in set 2 and of course save the match points. At Wimbledon last year, he faced set points in the 3rd set against Nadal, and came through a very close tie-break. Both Federer and Nadal said afterwards that they just couldn’t get a grip on Nick’s 1st serve, which probably shows how potent it is when it’s firing. I doubt even Djokovic would read it consistently.
      Ru-an Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 9:48 pm Yeah, I would love to see him play the Djoker now. That serve is lethal and so is the Djoker’s returns. It would be a great match up.
    1. And to add, apart from the little rant at the end of the first set, Nick kept his head really well, especially when facing 3 MPs in the final set. Roger was very clutch on serve when he saved 5 MPs, but the 6th was too much to ask. I think Nick can genuinely be a big thing if he approaches every single match the way he has approached the matches against Federer and Nadal. For instance, he gets destroyed by Murray but he does have the ability to beat him if he pretends that he’s a really great player (odd psychology I know, but it seems that he feels less pressure that way!)
    1. Hi Ruan, congratulations on your new blog design. It looks great. I’m one of those people that was having trouble seeing the comments, but fortunately your advice of clicking on the title of the desired post worked like a charm. Keep up the good work.
      Ru-an Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 9:02 pm Thank you, Balthazar. It’s very difficult to get the blog the way I want it. Just found out the slider on the homepage doesn’t look the same for everyone, so it’s pretty much impossible to get it right. Glad you found the comments.
      balthazar Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 9:30 pm Despite the headaches with this new design, it’s definitely worth the effort. The site looks like a sleek new Ferrari compared to the old one.
      Ru-an Reply: May 6th, 2015 at 9:40 pm Thank you, Balthazar, I appreciate that a lot.
 

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