Tennis is funny. Even if something goes very well in the last few weeks, everything can go down in a heartbeat.
This is what happened to Roger Federer that looked unbeatable before the final in Indian Wells before he squandered 3 championship points against Del Potro and he lost the following match in Miami to Kokkinakis. That meant that Roger lost the opportunity to defend 2 titles and he also surrendered his world no.1 rank to Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal seems to have a similar destiny after he lost to Dominic Thiem in Madrid to surrender his world no.1 rank and in the same day he received a terrible draw in Rome.
Why Nadal’s draw is so bad in Rome.
After his bye, Rafa will probably face his friend Fernando Verdasco in the opener. Even if Rafa has an overall 16-3 H2H record against him, Fernando knows he can beat him and in fact, he clinches 3 of the last 6 matches.
In the 3rd round, Rafa will face Denis Shapovalov that leads the Spaniard 1-0 in H2H matches after his win in Montreal last year, but Rafa may still have the advantage of the surface.
In the quarters, Nadal is projected to play again against Dominic Thiem that has defeated him on Friday and last year in Rome in the quarters (again!).
In the semifinal, Rafa may face either Dimitrov (probably not a problem) or Djokovic/Isner (and you don’t know how they are going to show up).
Nadal will try to win the title in Rome for the 8th time. It will be tough, but he is still the King of Clay!
Plausible quarters
Nadal – Thiem
Dimitrov – Isner/Djokovic
Anderson – Cilic
Del Potro/Goffin – Zverev
| THIS IS GOING TO BE TOUGH |
| Embed from Getty Images |
