Rafael Nadal booked a spot in the quarters in Indian Wells with a 6-7(8), 6-0, 7-5 victory over Alexander Zverev.
Rafa was on the brink of defeat as Zverev served at 5-4, 40/30 in the decider. But the teenager netted a forehand volley on match point and from there, Rafa took control. Our champ won 15 of the final 16 points to claim the dramatic victory.
Rafa improved to 11-4 on the season, and 47-8 lifetime at Indian Wells with the win.
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain serves during his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns to Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns to Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns to Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, serves to Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns to Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, reacts while playing Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates a point during his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, reacts while playing Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Rafael Nadal, of Spain, returns to Alexander Zverev, of Germany, during the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Wednesday, March 16, 2016, in Indian Wells, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a forehand during his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a forehand volley during his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a forehand during his match against Alexander Zverev of Germany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain shakes hands with Alexander Zverev of Gremany after his victory at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates victory over Alexander Zverev of Gremany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates victory over Alexander Zverev of Gremany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates victory over Alexander Zverev of Gremany at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in three sets during day ten of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in three sets during day ten of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in three sets during day ten of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
INDIAN WELLS, CA – MARCH 16: Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in three sets during day ten of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 16, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Source: BNP Paribas Open
Well done Rafa, you are fighting well,
with great passion and determination,
Love,
Alaine XXSydney Australia
Vamos Rafa eres un verdadero champion guarda la tranquilidad en tu juego
Congrats on a great win-keep fighting. What a great feeling to get that W! Hundreds of fans watched Rafael practice, and were rewarded with 3 wins.
The fire and passion burn brightly-respect to a true tennis warrior and ambassador👍💪👍💪👍💪👍💪👍💪👍💪👍💪👍💪👑
no doubt that the Loony Prophet prayed very, very hard for Rafa to win this, and we all owe it to the Loony Prophet that we can celebrate Rafa’s win today O_O LMAO
remeber rafa your shot selection should be such that at times it should confuse ur opponent but also it should make ur opponent run from one direction to other also u need to position urself such that u will able to bisect the court after every shot………
vamos rafa
alex…able to serve his 2nd serve at a pretty much same pace as that of first, so when it come good as it was happening for some times against rafa nothing more a opponent cant do in a match
though i have not seen alex play much but he lacks a flashing weapon in his armory like a sloid forehand or a backhand .. he is a pretty much a player of andy murray caliber
remember rafa u were able to top the group in WTF recently
I am wondering when we hear from Dear Uncle Toni that Rafa didn’t deserve to with this match and it was pure luck that Rafa won. all those crap comments by Toni Nadal have make Rafa insecure and demoralized to the extent that Rafa steps into court expecting to lose. Rafa need to hire a coach, work on damn serve and get a professional help from a psychologist.
Amen!
firstly congrats rafa for great victory ………..after so many days i am relieved now, tomorrow what ever happens i don’t care since rafa has played good matches against first two tricky opponent and the a youngster
the brilliant thing was rafa was consistently winning long rallies won 21 rallies shot the 26 shot and the 30 shot …………….and in all those rallies he was able to turn defense into attack and showed wonderful display of defense, which i think is the key, its been a long i have seen rafa winning long rallies many times in a match, rafa gets lot of confidence from winning that long rallies….rafa served tactically sometimes on some occasions
rafa able to hit go spinning forehands with power with good positions, actually i want rafa to once more see his down the line forehands hitting positions of this match in a video ..it was perfect
still rafa needs to serve a little quicker than what he his serving now and should practice down the tee serves …………….he still need to serve tactically on important points
one more thing rafa needs to improve on shot selection he don’t need to hit down the line forehand when rafa near nets when opponent on the down the line side instead he should hit cross court forehand with good angle ……………….i feel it will come with more matches he play
tomorrow what ever happens he should just enjoy the match since he was able to control the nerves consistently for 3 matches and he was just focusing on next point ……………actually after long time even when rafa trailing in 3rd set i felt he would win the match
though i felt he should have not drop his service game for 2 nd time in third set
so once again rafa just have good free time ……..enter the court with same attitude u played last three matches with little more anger ……just consider him a opponent who u most often times able to dictate in past matches and win over it ………..think of madrid open u played against him and u were able to turn up the match
vamos rafa enjoy the match tomorrow what ever the result………..i am sure u will keep on improving and please be with francis till monte carlo and give toni some rest to refresh his mind
Congratulations, RAFA. I was nervous & screaming like the old days with you. One match @ a time! Love you! Didn’t love Zverev’s seeming lack of respect @ handshake. These young players think who they are! You’re one of the greatest to ever play the game!
I am already a big fan of Zverev and root for himself except against Rafa. The match was truly a roller coaster with Rafa playing great and poorly. I really was preparing myself for a loss at 5-2, so I am very happy. I think this win was great for Rafa’s diminished confidence. Now, he needs to take his fighting spirit against Kei.
What can we say? The negatives first: Rafa was almost kicked out by this youngster (he had it on his racket), which is once more a sign that he’s not even close to his best. He did lose a few matches in the last 20 months that he should have won, so there is some justice. The positives are that Nadal looks more fired up, he looks like he wants to win, instead of wanting not to lose. He’s rallying and hitting the ball for real. The most positive is that he now has the chance to make a step forward. He should be beat Kei and he should really win this tournament (don’t give me BS like “playing a good match vs Djokovic is also already great news”). He needs this trophy. That is the remedy that he probably needs to become a great player again. It would give him a huge mental boost. And as we all know, apart from a new coach (note: it’s not Toni who is the main coach in IW!), a mental boost is what he needs for more than two years already!
You’re damn right! Rafa needs this trophy!!! He needs to end up losing to Djokovic. He gotta beat Nole!
Yeah I remember in 2013 after he beat Delpo – a match I was fortunate enough to watch in the stadium together with my granddaughters – in IW, he said it felt as one of the biggest wins of his career. IW is one of the masters that comes closest to the majors, the stadium is friggin’ huge folks.