Rafael Nadal will play an exhibition match against young Australian Tennis star Nick Kyrgios at Sportime Stadium on Randalls Island in New York City at the John McEnroe Tennis Project Benefit.
The exhibition will take place on Wednesday, August 26. You can get your tickets here.
The benefit helps provide scholarships, coaching, transportation and other financial assistance to qualified young tennis players in the greater New York area, as well as introducing the sport to hundreds of new junior players each year.
Both Rafa and Nick will then stay in New York City to compete in the main draw of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Rafa good luck.tomorrow.vamosssssssssssssssssssssssss
Must be method behind the madness in this unexpected match up for Rafa!? Vamos Rafa! x
Rafa has improved every aspect of his game since he returned from injury thank God! His strong game & shots are back & his serve has improved tremendously! His returns against one point serve players are effective…. must admit at some point during the Hamburg finals I thought…Gosh Rafa is the best returner in town…. he definitely does not need a player like nick to improve….he has ample opportunities to practice & play with top players who are not arrogant or show offish.
I do not blame tennis fans & folks who no longer wish to buy tickets to attend this match live in nyc…totally understandable……… I think j mac has a flare for stirring drama & disharmony…. Whilst I am disappointed w his poor tactics, and sense a concern for Rafa to have to deal w such an unpleasant player as nick, I am not at all surprised j mac is screwing this potentially rewarding benefit match…. I am not going to go either…..
Lets recall he had asked Rafa to play a long while ago, securing Rafa’s willingness to participate, and it appears rather odd that nick’s name came up only yesterday, being publicly announced …especially right after RAFA won the 500 Clay title…. in short, I do not trust this whole putting together or organization of the exhibition by j mac , and will not be at all surprise if there is a very low turn out….. something does not feel right about j mac choice…..as another fan wrote yesterday, Rafa usually plays exhibition matches w only friends or folks he respects & likes….
We can only wish that some of Nick’s aggressive, hard-hitting, go-for-broke style rubs off on Rafa. He could sure use it. His current strategy of just rolling or slicing the ball into the middle of the court is a recipe for disaster against the top players, and sometimes even against lower ranked players such as Kyrgios and Dustin Brown. It’s becoming more and more apparent that Rafa would rather drop in the rankings than alter his extremely conservative style of play. That’s a tough pill to swallow for many of his longtime fans. Very tough indeed.
I hope it will benefit Rafa in that he will have practice in playing against a very aggressive player. If anything, it may strengthen Rafa and help him to read the Kyrgios serve. He needs practice against players like him. At least I hope it will benefit Rafa (no pun intended). Love you Rafa, God bless you. Marylynn
Congrats on winning the Hamburg title 🙂 it was lovely to watch you playing with more confidence and all I can wish for you now is all the best for the hard courts and first of course is Montreal 🙂 Vamos My Champ!!! 🙂
Sorry to say I was all set to send in my money to go, never having seen Rafa live. When I printed out the form, I saw that NK had been added. As much as I love Rafa, I couldn’t get myself to send the form in. Just couldn’t. When it was first advertised, and tickets went on sale July 4th, they hadn’t confirmed the other player. Now I may spring for Open tickets, instead!
Rafa I ell going to see you in NY.im so happy you will be there.good luck.vamosssssssssss.I’m your biggest Fans..we love you in Houston TX.
Interesting match up, cocky Nick against respectful Rafa, maybe Nick will learn from the Maestro on how to behave he already knows how to play tennis but not how to behave!!
Now how am I going to watch that one ‘,,,it won’t be televised ,
Enjoy the day Rafa <3 <3 <3
salut rafa , bravo pour le titre a Hambourg … et de 1 je te souhaite une bonne saison 2015/2016 VAMOS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As long as it isn’t Fabio Fognini, the biggest hot head and loose cannon in men’s tennis.
Rafa and Nick should be quite entertaining for the crowds!
ha! Quite a funny and unexpected combination. I don’t think Rafa and Nick are really fans of each others. It’s going to be interesting, I have never seen Rafa play an exhibition with a player he wasn’t friend/friendly with.