Top seed and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal is back in action on Wednesday at the Australian Open and will face world No. 52 Leonardo Mayer.
Date: 17 January 2018
Match time: Rafa is third on Rod Laver Arena. Not before 2 PM local time (AEST) / Tuesday 10 PM EST – New York, Montreal / 3 AM GMT – United Kingdom /4 AM CET – Spain, France, Germany, Italy. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Rafa has won all four of his career meetings with Mayer, who won the opening set when the pair met at the US Open in September. The Argentine is 1-25 lifetime against opponents ranked in the top 10.
| YEAR | EVENT | SURFACE | RND | WINNER | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | US Open NY, U.S.A. |
Outdoor Hard | R32 | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2014 | Roland Garros France |
Outdoor Clay | R32 | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2013 | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells CA, U.S.A. |
Outdoor Hard | R32 | Rafael Nadal |
W/O
|
| 2013 | Acapulco Mexico |
Outdoor Hard | QF | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2012 | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells CA, U.S.A. |
Outdoor Hard | R64 | Rafael Nadal |
Good luck & Vamos Rafa!
Source: ATP World Tour
Well done Rafa! And from the looks of it, well done too for your commentary Rainier:):)
On to the next!
Thanks, Mac :). It’s been a while since I last saw you here.
Many don’t really tune up for early round matched but I love them.
They often give us a very good gauge of a player’s form besides being very “fresh”.
Also I love witnessing Rafa’s run from start to finish as much as I can and treat every match almost the same.
Slams are always more special but even an ATP250 (okay, Rafa doesn’t play those anymore) R1 or an exo with Rafa in it could get me pumped up.
It was a bit “lonely” “commentating” alone and but in the heat of the moment (match) I could only focus on the match and Rafa and typing as fast as I could. 🙂
But most often I would meet our usual suspects in Maria, Susie, Margo or Lorna, navdeep, jas_uk… etc. Not that I comment that much :).
Hi Rainier, I wasn’t troubled about Rafa’s first two matches but I am concerned about Dzumber. Just seeing his name caused me some unease. Once I looked him up I realized it was at the 2016 Miami Open that Rafa lost the first set to this opponent.
Dzumhur is playing very well but I am hoping he is no match for Rafa.
RAFA ROCKS
Anyway it was a very good match for Rafa in many sense.
He was tested and even pushed hard but was not in danger.
Only the 2nd match into the tourney after injury he already displayed truly high level of play.
Mayer when he was on is a dangerous player. He has the game. Just not the consistency or a top guy’s mentality (not so in this match!). He almost beat Fed in Shanghai once, holding 5 Bps and that is his favourite court.
Rafa was fully aware of it. I also fully expected him to go all out as well.
I’m glad he did. Only not too glad that the mach took almost 3 hours for a straightsetter and that is even a bit longer than Fed’s 5setters in the USO last year.
Talk about Rafa’s time bending ability. 😉
Hope you enjoyed the match as well.
Cheers.
Mayer earned the break! Deservedly so I have to say.
The set goes to the distance now.
5 all
Mayer serves.
Rafa’s on the break:
“Yeah, is not always the same. When you have a break in the serving for the match or serving for the set, there is always some breaks. Of course, is not a good thing.
But in this case particularly I personally was not losing the game because I was too nervous, because I felt too much tension. He played a great game, all the returns in, very long, playing so aggressive, hitting all the balls super strong, and having success.”
He gives full credit to Mayer. That’s gracious but mostly being fair. Didn’t expect anything less from Rafa and also that’s why I wasn’t disappointed about the break but more congratulating Mayer for this brave play getting rewarded.
Utterly remarkable hitting from Rafa and such grit and bravery from Mayer.
He earned himself a BP now.
Come on, Rafa. Close it out. 🙁
Ahhh. Such a shame. Out of no where Mayer got a mental lapse and he DFed 3 times to gift Rafa a duece from 40-love.
And of course Rafa gladly took it to serve out the set in the next game.
The match. 🙂
Very cool and cute ball girl brushes off the scare of Rafa’s almost hitting her when he’s trying a superb placed slice serve out wide on the duece court.
Such lovely girl. That smile. 😊😍
..when he’s trying to return
Mayer’s ridiculously coolheaded in this match. He goated on serve again and held in the blink of an eye.
And now Rafa answered back with a love service game of his own. Really high quality and entertaining stuff. If only Rafa had been this aggressive from the start.
Brilliant game from both players. Mayer got himself a BP by a beautiffully controlled volley and almost got it back to duece by a courageous FHDTL (again!).
But Rafa’s also too good.
3-3
It never gets old, Rara’s vicious FHDTL.
2-3 15-0
Good lord. A too good too describe slice pass from Rafa at 0-15 on Mayer’s serve, followed by another sharp-angled BHCC winner and he earned 3BPs
But Mayer served brilliantly and saved them all once again.
Aww, that’s gotta hurt. Mayer survived. He couldn’t have served any better.
Looking like another long set for Rafa.
Ridiculous ISOFH from Rafa followed by another no nonsense FH that leaves Mayer frozen on his foot.
Rafa quickly holds again.
2all
Oh no. Bad movement from Rafa at 30all. That brutal slide on dead run gotta hurt. I’m worried now. He had been avoiding those in this tournament so far but habits die hard. 🙁
Net points won so far:
Rafa 6/9
Mayer 17/23
15-0 1-1 3rd set
Another brutal BHDTL from Rafa. It’s funny it’s been working better than his BHCC in this match.
I love that sense of hurriedness in Rafa’s play when he’s made up his mind.
Great that both players get to play in the shade now.
Super BH PS from Rafa it’s ridiculous but actually expected.
That intimidated Mayer to a DF in the next point but once again he served himself out of the trouble. Credit to him.
How I love seeing Rafa wrongfooting Mayer. Rafa holds to 15 and wins the 2nd set, righly so.
He raised his serve and just didn’t miss once he got to the ball. Mayer could do absolutely nothing on return even with his good return (a super one to Rafa’s feet in the last game for instance).
Only one to go. Vamos Rafa! 💪💪💪
Rafa really steps in and Mayer has no chance to dictate.
A little window there but Mayer was so coolheaded. Rafa looks clueless at times I have to admit.
Now he has to serve out the set again.
5-4
Another devastating IOFH from Rafa. That’s more like it.
He missed the next one though. But that’s a good sign. 🙂
Mayer served brilliantly to avoid a double break. Rafa irritatingly looked at his box and said something.
Now he really looks hurried and aggressively, quickly holds his serve.
Super BHDTL pass from Rafa that kisses the line. 😂
That intimidates Mayer a bit and he missed his favourite serve and vollley to the open court in the nex point.
That’s more like it!