So here's a quick post about Rafa Nadal, who so far has made quite an impressive comeback on the tour, and since my last post has won two more titles, one in Brazil and the other Acapluco. And I think its say to say that Rafa's return is starting to look good.
Starting with the Brazil final, Rafa faced David Nalbandian, who also made his return to the sport after being out with injury as well. But in the final, despite being in form throughout the tournament, Nalbandian simply just wasn't able to keep up with Nadal, who went on to thrash him with a straight set victory 6-3, 6-2. This was Rafa's 37th clay court career title, and I'm sure getting his first title of the year under his belt gave him much confidence.
As for his next tournament, just there he played in Acapulco in the Mexico, where there were a few more of the top players in the world, namely David Ferrer, who has for now overtaken Rafa in the rankings, and Nicolas Almagro, who is the World No.11. And Rafa faced both players, in the semis he took on Almagro first, who put up fair resistance, but Rafa shut down his fellow Spaniard with a break of serve in each set, to reach the final. And with this match alone we finally got a real glimpse of where his tennis might be at, as up until then, Almagro was the highest ranked player Rafa had played and he put in a convincing performance in overcoming him. As for the final well it was expected to be a real tough test for Rafa against David Ferrer, who is arguably next to Rafa, and Roger and Nole notwithstanding, the best clay court player on the tour. However despite any fears that Rafa might be in for a real battle, were quickly set aside as Rafa went on to drub his compatriot, in a similar performance as he did at the French Open last year, as he raced to a 6-0, 6-2 victory.
This really is a good indicator of showing just where Rafa's tennis is at just now, and Rafa himself said that his knee is improving, and if this is a sign of things to come then Rafa is sure to be still the hot favourite to win the French Open. However he will still contend with one man in his way, who will pose a real threat to him and anyone else for that matter, and that is Novak Djokovic. And Novak came close to winning against Rafa last year, and if it wasn't for the rain delays the result might just have been different. But that was last year and it still remains to be seen just how Rafa's tennis and his knee will hold in the best of five set matches, although if he plays anything like he did last year, then he wont have a problem in reaching the final.
And up next for Rafa will be the American hard court swing, which get's under way this week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which Rafa was a former champion at. But this is where the change of surface from clay to hard court could prove to be a real test of his fitness and how well his knee will stand up to the hard concrete as opposed to be smoothness of the red clay. There is also the question of how well he can play against the top three guys on hard court as well, and particularly Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, which overall its their best surface.
And in regards to Andy Murray, it will be interesting should they meet to see how Rafa will play against him, as he has never played the British No.1 since October 2011 where Andy gubbed Rafa at the Tokyo open in the final set 6-0. And now that Andy has since become a major champion, Rafa will be playing a completely different player than before. So once things get under way later this week at Indian Wells we will see how it goes for Rafa, should he reach the latter stages of the event, and how his knee will take to the hard courts. And in regards to Andy Murray quickly, I'll say a bit more about him ahead of Indian Wells, which is an event which hasn't been very kind to him in the last couple of years, as he has even managed to win a set there since the 4th round of the event in 2010! And the last two years he went out in his first match, so hopefully this year it will be third time lucky for him, at least I hope so!
So that's it for now, more to follow soon, as this blog has been missing the tour events for a bit, so I will doing some coverage of Indian Wells next week (often called the 5th slam, due its size as an event), once it gets under way. Who will win it????? Well who knows, but at a guess I'm thinking Novak Djokovic for the men's and maybe Victoria Azarenka for the ladies. But we'll just have to wait and see, however it goes, it should be good. But one thing we know for sure is that this week Rafa sent a clear signal to his rivals that he is back and to watch out, so hopefully it should get pretty exciting from here, now that in the next tournament we will have the big four back together for the first time since Wimbledon.
Right well that's all for now, more soon on Indian Wells once it gets going.
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