Nadal Falls to No. 7 in the Live ATP Rankings
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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.
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.
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.
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