Rafael Nadal, who has been suffering from a stomach bug, will open his bid for a sixth Mutua Madrid Open title on Wednesday afternoon against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The 18-year-old Canadian, who defeated Denis Shapovalov in the first round, and our champ haven’t faced each other before.
Date: May 8, 2019
Match time: Not before 4 PM local time / 10 AM EDT – New York, Montreal / 3 PM BST – United Kingdom / 4 PM CEST – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / midnight AEST – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Rafa on playing Felix:
He is a complicated opponent. He’s young. He’s played a couple of matches on clay this year already so he’s going to be a difficult opponent.
For him here, everything is more even due to the altitude, the conditions.
Felix on playing Rafa:
It’s unbelievable. I’m so new on the tour. I’ve seen [Rafa] play so many times growing up. It’s a bit surreal to have the chance to play him here. I think I’ll just try to enjoy the moment and give everything I have every point.
According to ATP Tour, two years ago during his breakthrough run at the Coupe Rogers, Denis Shapovalov stayed with the Auger-Aliassime family at their home in Montreal. After beating Rafa 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in front of the home crowd, he celebrated the late-night victory with Felix, his mom and his sister.
“The funny thing about it is that he had a Rafa poster in his house,” Shapovalov shared with ATP Uncovered presented by Peugeot. “I kind of took it down as a joke. I told him, ‘We got to take it down.’ After that he legitimately took the poster down. He’s like, ‘Nah brother, the poster’s gone. Now I’ve got to put one of you.’ It was a great moment.”
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
I hope Rafa is feeling great and ready to battle. Best of luck to Champ Rafa.
RAFAMAZING ROCKS
May I give Nicole a name. Provocateur is befitting!
Please do not feed the troll. Ignore her and she’ll crawl back under her bridge.
Exactly my thoughts
All the best Rafa vamosssssssssssss you can do it I hope you are healthy good luck champ 💪💪💪🎾🎾🎾😘😘😘❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍💪💪💪❤️❤️❤️😘😘😘🎾🎾🎾💪💪💪😘❤️🎾😘
How likely is it that Felix would check this site for a message from a fan? Highly unlikely. This person gets her cheap thrills by provoking others. She’s the type who finds happiness in making others unhappy. Pathetic. Whoever runs this site can simply not publish her comments. The question is why is she not being blocked?
All the best Rafa! Sending you positive energy. Vamos💪💪💪
Good luck and Vamos Rafa. Hope you are fine <3
I watched a few of Félix’ matches during the South American clay swing and I was very impressed. In fact I put him on my list of players that I’d rather Rafa didn’t face. If it had to happen, for several reasons this isn’t good timing. On the other hand Rafa generally does well against the young players, probably because he respects their talents, as he does with all of his opponents. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow other than that I will be rooting for Rafa, as always. Stay strong champ and find a way – vamos!
This is actually a Rafa fans group 🙂 ! Felix is a lovely lad and a very promising player, and I’m sure the whole of Quebec is indeed behind him, but everyone else here – and in Madrid – is behind Rafa! Fingers crossed for tomorrow – it’s never easy playing at altitude, even when you’re feeling 100%, but hopefully it’ll go OK.
Félix, Bonne chance future 🌟 Au Québec on est tous derrière toi, Va chercher ta plus grosse victoire ✌️Try your best Félix and hope you get the W . 🥰