The Wimbledon draw is out. Rafael Nadal will play his first competitive match on grass in two years against Australian John Millman. Gilles Muller and Ivo Karlovic are potential fourth-round opponents for our champ, who previously reached the Last 16 in 2014.
Rafa’s potential path (by seeding) to the final:
- 1st round: John Millman
- 2nd round: Donald Young or Denis Istomin
- 3rd round: Karen Khachanov
- 4th round: Gilles Muller or Ivo Karlovic
- Quarter-final: Marin Cilic
- Semi-final: Andy Murray
- Final: Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer
Potential Wimbledon 2017 quarter-final draw (if top seeds win through):
- Andy Murray vs Stan Wawrinka
- Rafael Nadal vs Marin Cilic
- Milos Raonic vs Roger Federer
- Dominic Thiem vs Novak Djokovic
As you can see, Rafa doesn’t have an easy draw, but it could have been much worse.
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
I am SO encouraged by the comments I’ve just read. Rafael Nadal has always been my favorite player, owing to the passion with which he plays, the respect he has for his family, country and his opponents, and the truly admirable person he is as a consequence of the foregoing. I hope to see Rafa’s great smile as he lifts the cup at Wimbledon this year!!!!! VAMOS RAFA!!!!!
I JUST HOPE HE GOES ALL THE WAY , AND THEN PERHAPS WIMB: WILL RESPECT HIM AT LAST____ , BUT WIMBLEDON IS ALL ABOUT MONEY .
Rafa I sure pray that you will do your best next week,
and that you will get through to the following week,
Love and prayers,
AlaineXXSydneyXXAustraliaXX
Dear Rafa we….all of us who love and respect you are behimd you!!!! You are in our prayers…we are so proud of you!!!!!
I just always wish that whoever Rafa faces that the Lord obtain for him the winning strike. And that he maintain and remain physically and mentally fit.
Vamos Rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Rafa vs Haas 6-4, 1-6, 10-8.
Rafa has won his exhibition match against Tommy Haas
Hooray! The score please?
6-4, 1-6, 10-7 Vafavre
WRONG, again.
Big deal, isn’t it Maria? And to think that exhibition matches are nothing but glorified practice sessions.
Anyway here’s the latest news in town: My great Siberian Aunt (who really I was named after) who accurately sees tomorrow like nobody else, has privately let the cat out of the bag to me. I will just give a few snippets from her highly world-awaited Wimbledon predictions:
1. Andy Murray will be out in the first week!
2. Roger Federer will make it all through to the final
3. Rafa Nadal will follow Andy’s footsteps mentioned above
4. Stan Wawrinka will be out in the 2nd or 3rd round
5. Djokovic will reach the final round, but will lose it.
So, there you have it. If you combine (1) and (5) above, you should easily decipher who the winner is.
But as always, we’d see………hmmmn
May our good Lord keep you physically fit (especially your knees & wrist) to combat all the matches and obtain for you your 3rd Wimbledon trophy in Jesus name I humbly pray. Amen.
We want to see you back to World # 1 again.
Vamos Rafa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
I look for Rafa to serve well and volley when he can off his second serve . I think Rafa has a hood draw and he just might surprise everyone . It would be extremely helpful if Rafa could consistently hit the 1st serve with more pace as he did occasionally at Roland Garros .
We shall see ! Vamos Rafa Wimbleton 2017 !
A good draw to be honest especially with no unknown quantity with a big serve n volley game.Take one match at a time Rafa.
Vamos
Good luck and Vamos Rafa <3
good draw for nadal. I am very pleased that he wont face players like raonic, krygios, zverev, thiem and off course querry and dustin brown.
If nadal gets through the first week for the first time in 6 years he is going to be dangerous
Given Rafa’s post FO lack of confidence about grass court competition, I wonder if there can be any easy draw. for him.
I support Rafa unconditionally but I am as scared as never before about his achieving much at Wimb ’17.
All the same,
WAMOS WAMOS WAMOS RAFA
RAFA ROCKS
that is not neccesary puma you should have some faith in the champ. He is motivated to win wimbeldon for the first time in 7 years. The first 4 matches are going to be crucial. If these matches are convincing wins like at the French open that means more confidence and selfbelief to win wimbeldon.
In my opinion nadal is in the same position as he was in 2008 he is the underdog because people are expecting a battle between federer, Murray and djokovic so he has nothing to prove.
If he pulls out a stunt at wimbeldon and beats federer in the final that means a gap of only 2 grandslam titles between nadal and federer. The us open in that case will be then fascinating.
i DO HAVE FAITH IN RAFA AS I SAID II AM AN UNCONDITIONA FAN.
I AM STILL SCARED
mjus, again, what the hell are you talking about?
“In my opinion nadal is in the same position as he was in 2008 he is the underdog because people are expecting a battle between federer, Murray and djokovic so he has nothing to prove.”
Rafa the underdog in 2008?
Can’t decide if this or your “If Stan plays like he did in the 2015 final there’s nothing Nadal can do” is more 🤦♀️🤦♂️.
Don’t be scared PUMA. Rafa reminded people in his interview [I posted earlier] that he has made it to FIVE Wimbledon finals, even though he has lost early in some of his tries. I haven’t read anywhere that his knees are a problem at this point. I am going to take it match by match, as I always do. It keeps me sane. LOL
RAFA ROCKS
Sorry 31 years
Rafas’s coaching teams thoughts on Wimbledon: ( taken from an article)
Uncle Toni: We’ve been training quite well every day. Every day he has played quite well with all his opponents. The idea is to try to make his game a little more aggressive, going forwards and avoiding moving back. On the grass the best points are three or four shots, so you have to be very aggressive with the serve and after the return.”
It’s a little bit like the feeling he had at Roland Garros,” “He had gone three years without winning a Grand Slam title and he was hungry and extremely motivated to win another. For different reasons, Rafael hasn’t been able to play well on grass in the past five years and he wants more than anything to be able to do that. When his body allowed him, he was a very good grass-court player. He made five straight finals at Wimbledon. Not many players have done that. He thinks he can win again.”
There are a lot of changes if you make it through the first week,” “The bounce of the ball is much lower in the first week and the ball skids more. Your shots cause less damage. During the second week the court is worn out and you can move better. We have always played better during the second week.
Rafael has one thing better than everyone else, which is the intensity of his game. Of course there are some players with a better serve or with more powerful shots, but if he is healthy he can play at a high intensity with few errors. He also has the peace of mind of having just won a Grand Slam. If the season were to end now it wouldn’t be bad for us, it would be very good.
“He has won a 500-level tournament, two Masters 1000s and Roland Garros. When you win you have an important sense of calm. Before starting to play at Wimbledon, these feelings are very good.”
Carlos Moya: The movement is different. You have to get down lower and be a little more aggressive. You also have to accept that the points are going to be shorter than on the clay as it’s a faster surface. Anyway, I’m sure that we’re going to see a great version of Rafa.”The clay-court season was exhausting, especially mentally,”. “Rafa was listening to his body and his health is his priority, even though he badly wanted to play at Queen’s. We know he’s not going to have matches under his belt, but he’ll arrive mentally and physically fresh at Wimbledon. He has made a great transition to the grass.
Francis Roig: “The training has been really positive. He came from a week of practice in Mallorca and the first day that I was with him in London I saw straight away that he was hitting the ball very well. He has adapted quite well to the grass and is ready mentally.””It is important to play on worn out grass, so he can be used to playing on this surface. He’s in a better frame of mind than in other years, he is very pumped up. He can’t wait to play, and he’s been like that since the end of Roland Garros. That’s very important also.”
And from the man himself: “I know that my knees have hindered me a lot on grass in the past few years,” “They stopped me from competing at the maximum level. The switch to grass has been progressing well and the test will come later, but I am confident that my knees are going to hold up. Then the results as always depend on many factors.”For me it’s important to have a good preparation, be in good shape for the first match, and remember it’s a special surface for everyone,” “It will be key to get through the first couple of matches and then everything feels more normal.”
I wish the uncle went away and left Rafa’s fate more in the hands of the Moya team. i hetoped he was off and yet his tentacles are still on Rafa.
I believe that maybe until his adolescence the uncle was the most positive factor in Rafa’s tennis life, but thereafter his role is discutable.
Loyalty to family is great but why did Rafa never develop a better serve, or vary his shots more before the arrival of Moya, or have more confidence in himself? His beautiful humble personality sometimes turns into that of a repressed child, thanks to uncle Toni.
Toni Nadal is still around blah blah ing about how great RF is and how big his chances for winning Wimb ’17 are.
Please correct me if I am totally of the mark.
RAFA ROCKS
I think Toni has done a wonderful job ,and Rafas’s career wins and humble personality is because of his uncle, you say because of his uncle he is sometimes like a repressed child , whereas I see it as because of Toni he has never acted like a spoilt child on court , smashing rackets and sounding off.
If you read Rafa’s book you would know that tennis was left to Toni, but that Rafa’s “education” was left to his parents. Rafa recounted that his mother told him if he ever smashed a racquet or behaved badly she would never go to his tournaments. She would be too ashamed.
Toni loves to put his foot in his mouth. He also said that Rafa has a chance “otherwise there would be no motivation.”
If you read Rafa’s book, you will have learned that Toni contradicts himself.
As I stated earlier, I think Rafa has found his voice. The past can’t be changed but the here and now is what is important and Carlos has a lot to do with the emerging Rafa, both his game and as a man.
RAFA ROCKS
puma,
you are off the mark. I think regardless of what people may think of toni methods he coached nadal to 15 grandslam titles. Name one coach who coached a player to that many grandslam titles.
Yes toni was a ruthless coach to nadal. Nadal described that in his biography where wrote about the times that he went home after a training crying and that there were some times tensions between nadal mother and toni nadal but rafa said in his book that that ruthless behaviour of toni turned about be beneficial for nadal career
Mjus, I totally agree with you , who knows without Uncle Toni what Rafa would have achieved. I have read countless time Rafa saying he owes it all to his uncle. Rafas’s words on winning the FO-Thanks to my uncle, he’s been with me since I was three years old, we’ve been working a lot and without him I would not have these 10 trophies with me,
Margo- I said nothing about his education , respect on the court and to other players he learnt from his uncle. Uncle Toni told a 6 year old Rafa, “You throw one racket and I’m no longer your coach. There are millions of kids in the world who would love a racket and don’t have one .”Rafa has never broken a racquet. It would be showing a lack of respect to people who actually have to buy the equipment to play the sport”(Toni’s words)
Uncle Toni also told a young Rafa” you will only learn that every action has an effect if you take responsibility for your acts”. “If you want to be number one , then you must be responsible and don’t forget that this requires great effort , but not only in tennis , Rafael , in everything you do in your life” ” Being number one in the profession you’ve chosen in life means only that, in the rest of your daily life you’re just the same as everyone else”.
That is how little you know Rafa and Toni. In countless interviews, in his book, and in relation to Rafa’s academy, both Rafa and Toni talk about “education” as a word for “upbringing,” the values children are taught. English-speaking people use the word “education” for scholastics. In his book Rafa gave his parents credit for his “education.”
You really make no sense, as I have said I was referring to on court .Im afraid all of What has happened and said to Rafa in 30 years are not contained in one book , that you like to harp on about time and time again. I don’t need to know everything about Rafa to be a fan , and anything I want to know I can find on the net as you well know. Maybe you would like to find out about Andy as he doesn’t lay,/play for England, he plays for Great Britian , and if there was such a thing in tennis he would be playing for his beloved Scotland not England
There is no more Great Britain. Or did you miss Brexit?
Brexit is because we are coming out of the EU we are Still Great Britian that hasn’t broke up , you obviously don’t understand what Brexit means , and my score was correct confirmed on Twitter and later post by RNF
IF your score is correct, I will stand corrected. I took it from both Scoreboard and FlashScore.
Should be 31 years
This bodes well. Rafa normally plays down his chances.
You are spot on. Whether fit or not at his best, Rafa has always downplayed his chances. This is sometimes lost on some.
From the very beginning, after La Décima, indications from Carlos and Toni were that Rafa has a good chance at Wimbledon. Rafa himself said if he wins his first two matches “ahí cambia la historia.” That’s pretty positive to me.
One match at a time.
RAFA ROCKS
Very nice draw. I hope Rafa makes the best of it as in bowling ball to the pins.
GOOOOO RAFA
HE WILL PREVAIL, VAMOS RAFA
“On paper” this is one of the best draws Rafa could get. Karlovic probably won’t be there in R4 (he has only reached R4 in 2 out of 12 occasions). Muller never got passed round 3 of Wimbledon. Istomin in R2 may be a threat. Cilic could be a real challenge, but Mount Murray is never a problem for an inform Nadal (if he reaches the SF, he will be in form). Then please let it be Djokovic (anything but the Weak Era King please, we need to protect the Nadal legacy) in the final. For sweet revenge and major 16.
jason what you have assumed is correct
Hi Jason, I have to admit that I am a little worried about Muller this year. He is playing better than ever in his career and is 7-1 on grass this year. I think that many of the early Rafa upsets were when he was not feeling 100%. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will do well. This has been such a wonderful year so far.
Khachanov has a very good serve but not in the league of kygrios, querry and raonic. If Rafa gets to second week, he should be able to get past Muller. Unlike Kygrios, Muller does not have that much to back his big serve. As for Cillic, I think Rafa’s movement should give him the edge.