Nadal defeated by world no.127 in Doha

Another day of misery for Rafael Nadal.

The Spanish Legend struggles to find his tennis to lose to world no.127 Michael Berrer in 3 sets. The match was quite strange with Rafa in demolition mode in the opener when the world no.3 was all over the court to give absolutely no chances to Berrer. Everything was working perfectly for the Spaniard that was having full control of his deadly forehand and he was moving on the court as the nice old days.

Things changed in the second set when Berrer grabbed the decisive break in the 4^th game (3-1) to win the set 6-3. In the decider Rafa was broken in the very first game to lose the set after being unable to convert 5 break points. The final score was 1-6 6-3 6-4 and the match ended after 1 hour and 56 minutes.

Some stats

Rafa scored just 1 point less than Berrer  (80 vs 81). What made the difference was the break point conversion with the German breaking Rafa twice on 4 occasions (2^nd and 3^rd set) and Rafa breaking Berrer twice (both in the first set) on 12 opportunities. Match Stats

Nadal: These things happen

”These things happen after long time without being on the road, being on rhthym, being in competition. I was playing with more nerves because after long time [away] I wanted to win. When you are back from an injury, that takes time.”

Some thoughts

Rafa didn’t play that bad. In this case we really need to give credit to Michael Berrer that was always in the match even after being trashed in the opener. Nadal played an outstanding 1^st set and his tennis didn’t go that south in the following games. The world no.3 has to find his nerves and his trademark competitive edge. Still some work to do.

Berrer will now face Ivan Dodig in the second round.