On Thursday, five-time champion Rafael Nadal will face American Frances Tiafoe in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
They have played each other once in the past. The match was played earlier in the season at the Australian Open where Rafa won in straight sets.
Date: May 9, 2019
Match time: 8 PM local time / 2 PM EDT – New York, Montreal / 7 PM BST – United Kingdom / 8 PM CEST – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / Friday – 4 AM AEST – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Rafa on playing Frances:
Frances is a very high-level opponent. He has a lot of speed. He’s very aggressive. And he’s an electric player. He serves very well. He moves very good on the clay.
He comes in with a lot of confidence… He has that drive and energy, and it will be a good test for me and an opportunity for me to play a tough match and to keep improving.
The young American reached the Estoril quarterfinals last week and so far in Madrid has taken out Nikoloz Basilashvili and Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets.
Rafa is 20-2 against #NextGenATP players since the campaign launched at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
Source: ATP Tour
OLA OLA OLA OLA OLA OLA OLA & VAMOS SWEETHEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) JUST VIEWD AGAIN THE HIGHLIGHTS……..SO BEAUTIFUL AND BRIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) I LOVE WHEN YOU RETURN AND THEN REAL FAST MOVING AROUND AND CAN’T WAIT TO GET THE BALL AGAIN………..VAMOS SWEETHEART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) ENJOY A BEAUTIFUL DAY LOTS OF FUN IT WILL BE A GREAT MATCH FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS SWEETHEART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) LOTS OF LOVE AND HAPPINESS AND VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) WI………WI……..WI………..KEEP SMILING! : ) XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX
Rafa lost to Borna Coric ..maybe 2 or 3 years ago?
And of course to Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon.
Good luck, Rafael. Tiafoe has sense of humour-said that if Nadal got hold of forehand, it would be barbecue chicken!😋💪🤛👍👏🍀❤️
Thanks for the info. Does anyone know who are the two next gens that Rafa lost to? I know one was Shapavolov in Canada but I don’t know (can’t remember the other). Just curious. He has such an incredible record against these young guns. Always feel proud when he plays them. And they are good!
Maybe the other one is Borna Coric who beat Rafa in 2014 Swiss Indoor, when he was 17?
Borna was my guess too. I thought Borna beat Rafa once in Croatia and then in Canada in 2016. Rafa was ill the first time and the second was when he flew in after Rio immediately after the Olympics. Rafa was just exhausted. In both cases, Ćorić was very muted in his celebration because he knew Rafa was not at his best. It was a sign of respect.
Go Rafa the King of Clay vamossssssssss champ you can do it 💪💪💪🎾🎾🎾😘😘😘🍾🍾🍾👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️👍💪💪💪💪🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘💪💪💪💪💪💪❤️
Vamos Rafa
Why does nobody know what time Rafa plays. I almost missed the match this morning that started at 10am EST. Was given wrong info yesterday that said match would not start before 4pmES
Betsy
It did start at 4pm in Madrid. 10 am edt
Go for it champ <3