Top seed Rafael Nadal continues his quest for a sixth Madrid Open title on Friday when he takes on Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. The sixth-ranked German has made three previous appearances at this tournament and boasts one title (2018) plus a pair of quarterfinal results on his resume. Rafa leads the overall head-to-head 5-2.
Date: May 7, 2021
Match time: Not before 3 PM local time / 9 AM EDT – New York, Montreal / 2 PM BST – United Kingdom / 3 PM CEST – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / 11 PM AEST – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Rafa won seven consecutive matches dating back to the start of his title run at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The lefty is 13-2 on the season, with his only losses coming in the Australian Open quarter-finals (l. to Tsitsipas) and the Monte-Carlo quarter-finals (l. to Rublev).
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
Dominic Thiem is on to the semifinals beating Eisner 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Reports are that Thiem is not showing any signs of rust.
Rafa, roll up your sleeve for the Faucie Ouchie.
GREAT NEWS
Vaccine developers Pfizer-BioNTech will donate doses to inoculate athletes and officials preparing for the Tokyo Olympics, the IOC said Thursday.
Delivery of doses is set to begin this month to give Olympic delegations time to be fully vaccinated with a second shot before arriving in Tokyo for the games, which open on July 23.
Great news indeed!👏👏
Yes Mimi, I hope it works out for Rafa and other athletes who want the vaccine but are yet unable to get it. If things go as planned, the different delegations will be fully vaccinated in time for the Olympics.
I think it’s wonderful news especially since Japan announced that their workers won’t be vaccinated. This translates to many thousands of unvaccinated employees working at the Olympics. And it takes only one person to spread a virus among the unvaccinated. Athletes are not being required to be vaccinated.
😳 It’s worrisome that their workers won’t be vaccinated.
Has anyone seen the list of players for the ATP TOUR Finals in the Race to Turin? It’s shocking, to me. I know there’s still a lot of tennis to be played before the list is finalized but I’ve never seen such drops since I’ve been following Rafa.
Rafa has dropped to No. 9
Tsitsipas has climbed to No. 1
Djokovic has dropped to No. 3
Diego has dropped to No. 17
Thiem is No. 56
There are two ATP TOUR articles I found of interest;
“Tsitsipas Extends Race Lead” and “Medvedev’s Chase for World No. 1”
Eh, it’s fallout from the Pandemic. Rafa’s barely played this year after his back problem from the AO and he didn’t play much last year either. If he does reasonably well at the remaining slams he’ll be fine.
🤞🤞🤞💪🎾💪🏸🏆🏆🏆
Huge congratulations to Rafa and to the other Laureus award winners in the world of tennis.
Rafael Nadal : World Sportsman Award
Naomi Osaka : World Sportswoman Award
Billie Jean King : World Sports Award for Lifetime
Achievement
👍👏🏸
Congratulations to Rafa on winning the Laureus Award, great acknowledgement of a wonderful sportsman, he is the epitome of all that is good in sport and as a person.
Now to get to the semi final in Madrid. Rafa is playing with confidence and improving with every match. All good luck Rafa.🇪🇸🌟🍀
Good luck and go for it. Vamos Rafa❤️
Good luck tomorrow Rafa!!. We know they are waiting for you, they all want to defeat you, but you still have a lot and much more to say 💪🏻💪🏻😉.
VAMOS RAFA, a por ellos!! ⚡🌀🌪️🔥🦌
Buena Suerte Rafa v Sasha Zverev. Take him out in 2 preferably. 🇪🇦💪🔥🇪🇦☘
Both Rafa and Sacha had an easy road to the QF. I am hoping for some magic from Rafa to reach the SF’s.
GOOD LUCK RAFA
Yes, some magic from Rafa in the Magic Box. Vamosssss Rafa💪💪💪
So funny mimi Always you are…. Congratulations Rafa onto the next battle
😜
All the best against Z-stay tough.👏💪🤛👍🍀🎾❤️
You know your opponent. You know your stengths. Good combination. Stay the course no matter how the wind blows. You know how to tact. The harbor is within sight!!! Read the wind.Vamos,man!!
All the best for tomorrow much vamosssssss champ and good luck 👍💪👍💪👍💪❤️😘🎾🏆
Te deseo lo mejor para mañana, se que luchaás por ganar, cuidate, VAMOS SSSSSS!!!!!
Ooh yeah, it’s pay back time, remember at the Nitto ha ha haaaa, ayeye, I remember very vividly, u gonna pay back Sasha, my champ will win by straight set, vavas to the mos