On Thursday, Rafael Nadal will face former Top 10 player Kevin Anderson in the third round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
Date: April 27, 2017
Match time: Around 12:30 PM local time / 6:30 AM EDT – New York, Montreal / 11:30 AM BST – United Kingdom / 12:30 PM CET – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / 8:30 PM AEDT – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Our champ has won all three of their prior meetings, which have all been contested on hard courts.
| YEAR | EVENT | SURFACE | RND | WINNER | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris France |
Indoor Hard | R16 | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2015 | Australian Open Australia |
Outdoor Hard | R16 | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2010 | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada Canada |
Outdoor Hard | R16 | Rafael Nadal |
Rafa is looking to capture a 10th title in Barcelona where he owns a 49-3 career record. Last year he did not drop a set (d. Nishikori in F). Also he did not lose a set in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011-12-13. His 41-match winning streak in Barca came to an end in 2014 quarter-finals (l. to Almagro)
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
Source: ATP World Tour
Rafa is in clay-court cruise. His great Barcelona scores will lead him to the trophy. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. Keep up your Gr8 game, Rafa.
RAFA ROCKS
Update:
Due to the rain delay, the order of play has just been revised and Rafa is scheduled to play first at 3pm local time on *Pista* Rafa Nadal :p, followed by Murray. Spaniards in very match on Pista Rafa Nadal today.
Some players will probably have to play two matches tomorrow, including Zverev :-(.
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js
Carlos Moya Said of Rafas’s tenth title in MC it’s unrepeatable and unbelievable and it will last for a long time. For many years you will speak about an extra-terrestrial who won ten times in Monte Carlo, nine in Barcelona and especially nine times at Roland Garros.’
Come the end of June , Carlos will have to change this statement to ,10 10 10.
I heard Rafa called many things but never an ET, but Moya is right Rafa is certainly out of this world. Good luck tomorrow Rafa.👽👾
All the way Champ VAMOS Good luck
Hopefully the sun will come back tomorrow. There’s still a match being played (Ramos vs Rudd) atm :(.
Anderson (according to Maria) is Rafa’s childhood friend according to Maria (I know Rafa went to South Africa when he was 14 to play the final at Nike Junior Tour International (and won it :p) but haven’t heard anything about this, Maria).
He has quite some impressive wins over Murray and Wawrinka (3 in 2014 which is even more impressive considering Stan’s confidence was sky high at that time).
I’m also still impressed with his four-set win over Murray at USO 2015 R4 with 3 TBs, of which he won 2. Made top ten aka peaked at the age of 29 that year. A bit like Ramos making his first Masters final at the same age this year. 🙂
He’s just come back from injury so I expect an easy win for Rafa. He’s a huge sever (hard not to be so when you’re over 2 meters tall) and had MP against Rafa at Paris but it was 2015 and on indoor hard court.
Hope Rafa will come out swinging all week ON “his” court 😛.
Good luck tomorrow and all week, Rafa. 🍀🍀🎾🎾🇪🇸🇪🇸
Sorry , may have phrased that wrong, what I meant is they knew each other as youngsters ( young teens) playing against each other in tournaments. I remember when they played a few years back and Judy Murray had a photo of them together when they were young .
@Rainier
You know your Rafa history.
Rafa did mention the tournament in S. Africa in his bio. There is also mention of person A wanting Rafa to concentrate on his tennis for the tournament, and person B wanting Rafa to have some fun. Person B won. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Sorry, I don’t remember who these two people were and will not guess. Perhaps someone else who read his book will remember. He never mentioned making a friend. Did Rafa speak English at that age?
RAFA ROCKS
Here you are, Margo, excerpt from Rafa’s autobiography:
“But I remember South Africa as a thrilling trip, in which I also happened to win a tennis tournament. Evidence of how childlike I remained, how unprofessional still for all the hours of hard practice I put in, and for all Toni’s cajoling, was provided on the morning of the final, two hours of which I spent playing football. The organizers were scandalized, as if their tournament was not being taken seriously enough, and they appealed to Jofre to stop me playing. He didn’t. Knowing he was reflecting the views of my parents, he reminded them that if traveling halfway across the world to play in a tournament wasn’t fun, the point would come when I’d lose my enthusiasm for tennis.”
🙂
That was bugging me to no end. Totally cool of you. Thanks so much.
RAFA ROCKED BARCELONA, TOO
You’re welcome, Margo. 🙂
Sorry for the “late” reply.
There’s no mention about the English thing but I think Rafa could certainly converse in English at that age even though his English must have been very limited.
Rafa met Murray in Feb 2002 at the European U16 Championship when Rafa lead the Spain team to beat GB 2-1 in the final. They didn’t play each other as Rafa was the first player and Murray the second :p; but they talked and afterwards Murray decided to go to Spain for training as we all know it. So it must be the case that Rafa could converse in English at that age and tbh, it’s not that hard for even baby Rafa to speak simple English, don’t you think? :p
Oh and Murray was very impressive with Rafa that time. He said Rafa was by far the best player of their generation, even though the talk back then was Rafa and Gasquet as the future champions, plus Gasquet had beaten Rafa at Les Petits As 1999. Rafa won it the next year though. Murray SO wanted to win it because he had seen Rafa and Hingis names on trophies but for some reason he lost in the 2001 and was “devastated” because of that. Poor boy but so cute :D).
Good luck and Vamos Rafa!!!
Sadly, a lot rain is predicted for tomorrow. It is probably good that Rafa plays early.
We’re going to have to play this one by ear. As of now, the rain in Barcelona is reported to continue until tomorrow at approx 4PM local time. Then again, meteorology is not an exact science so I’ll just keep on checking. Maybe the tournament director will make alternative arrangements for players.
RAFA ROCKS
I just hope no player will have to play two matches in the same day. Late night matches are expected though. Only one more rainy day to go according to the weather man. but let’s hope he’s wrong this time. ☔️☁️⛅️☀️
Aahhh Rafa, another one to be dispensed with by your reincarnated 2017 self. BEST OF TENNIS TO YOU.
RAFA ROCKS