Nadal's Quest in Melbourne: 2015

After a bittersweet week in Doha, next up is the Australian Open!

A first round exit in Doha was slighting worrying regarding Rafa's match preparation before Melbourne. However, after a very successful week in doubles winning the title, (see here) Rafa has had some more opportunities to be on court. The win will surely improve his confidence, giving him an even better chance of starting the Australian Open strong.

As this is still the start of a comeback, we cannot be sure how Rafa will play or react to some tough matches that await in Melbourne. One thing is for sure though, Rafa will work as hard as possible and do everything he can to be ready for the first slam of the year.

Many tennis enthusiasts share the same view that Rafa will either exit the tournament early or get deep into competition. I agree. If Rafa can get over the first week, his confidence will be high and he'll have a really good chance at the title. We know that Rafa's form is not perfect and his tennis needs adjustments, but a slam is a tournament you can really play into. Lots of rounds that are all 5 sets will allow room for improvement.

Even if Rafa does play himself into form, the competition is so tough. Federer, Djokovic and Murray are all playing great as usual and the quality of tennis from most competitors is so strong right now. The likes of Dimitrov and Raonic are leading the new generation and improving each tournament. The standard in Melbourne will undoubtedly be very high.

After a heartbreaking final last year and some unlucky moments in the past (see here) I'd love Rafa to pick up a second title at the Australian Open. It's a tournament I've always loved and so has he, it would be amazingly special to watch him bite another trophy. However, we have no idea what is going to happen. Rafans will just have to take one match at a time and just enjoy having him back on court.

I'm very excited to watch the tournament and I can't wait to see what happens. I'm hungry for success and I'm sure Rafa is too… we'll see.

Vamos.

@_phenomenadal_

Kin9 Of Clay

There have been so many memorable moments over Rafa's career. 14 Grand slam titles, 64 titles, 27 masters titles and an olympic gold medal. There's a lot to choose from. There's one tournament that sticks out of course, Roland Garros. Rafa's record in Paris is 67-1. In 10 years, Rafa's only lost one match at the French Open. Damn you Robin Soderling…! Let's take a trip right back to where it started, starting with Roland Garros 2005.


2005

Rafa won his first grand slam title, beating Roger Federer in the semi finals, and Mariano Puerta in the final.

6-7 6-3 6-1 7-5

2006

Rafa won his second grand slam title, this time beating Roger Federer in the final. He became the only person to do so in a grand slam final. 

1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6

2007

French Open number 3, and guess who he beat in the final? Yep, Roger.

6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4

2008

Just before winning Wimbledon for the first time, Rafa picked up his 4th Roland Garros. He thrashed Roger Federer again in the final, bagelling him. He became the fifth man in the Open Era to win a grand slam title without losing a set. 

6-1 6-3 6-0

2010

A year after losing to Soderling, Rafa got his revenge to win his 7th grand slam. He regained the number 1 spot, and won the tournament without losing a set for the second time.

6-4 6-2 6-4

2011

Rafa became the most successful player along with Bjorn Borg in the history of the French Open, winning his 6th title. Again, he beat Roger Federer in the final.

7-5 7-6 5-7 6-1

2012

After a dramatic two day 3 hour 50 minute final due to rain delays, Rafa defeated Djokovic to win a 7th French Open title. He defined himself as the greatest clay court player in history, winning the most Roland Garros titles EVER.

6-4 6-3 2-6  7-5

2013

After an emotional 7 month injury break, Rafa was back. His dominance at Roland Garros was still very much intact! After a marathon semi final defeating Djokovic, he beat David Ferrer in the final for an 8th title! Hist8ry!

6-3 6-2 6-3 

2014

Saving the best until last, this year. I was living and breathing the French Open for those 2 weeks. They were the most stressful two weeks of my life. He did it though… all doubts were swept aside. It was the most emotional win, and Rafa beat Djokovic to win his 9th title. I was Dreamin9.

3-6 7-5 6-2 6-4

That certainly brought back memories! 9 titles over the last 10 years. 

Let's make that ten. 

@rafanadaladdict

Congratulations Marin Cilic!

After an incredible two weeks, Marin Cilic has been crowned the 2014 US Open champion.

Marin beat Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-3 6-3 in the final, a very convincing win.

He's been strong, powerful and very solid all tournament, and he truly deserves the title. He won some tough matches, and most notably beat Federer in straight sets in the semi finals.

His serves have been amazing, his game has been almost error free, and his groundstrokes are just so powerful. He's been so dominant on court.

I truly hope that this win will lead him to many other great things, instead of doing a 'Stan Wawrinka'.

You could see how much this meant to him (and all of his team), the emotion was just beautiful.

Congratulations to Marin Cilic and all his team. Thanks to Goran, for leading him to this win, and thanks to the US Open for a great fortnight.

See you next year, New York.

US Open- Week 1

We're already half way through the last grand slam of the year. Hasn't it gone fast?! So far the tournament has been pretty interesting. I can't feel like I can totally enjoy the open this year for me, due to Rafa not being here. The tournament is defiantly lacking that excitement that he brings. However, i'm sure there are some excellent matches to come.

The top mens seeds are playing well. Novak seems to have snapped out of whatever was causing his earlier struggles in Toronto and Cincinnati. Roger is playing very well, I'm impressed by Berdych too, he did well to come through a very tough 2nd round with Klizan.

Dimitrov is playing very comfortably this week, he's into the 4th Round with good wins so far. All straight sets apart from his 3rd Round with Goffin.

I'm feeling very proud of Robredo this week too. 32 years old and still hanging around, proving that experience prevails over young gun Kygrios. Tommy is now into the 4th Round, after fighting through 3, 4 and 5 set matches.

Raonic survives so far, after a very tough match against Estrella Burgos in Round 3. He won in straights, but needed 3 tiebreaks to pick up the win. He will play Nishikori next, who has been playing well.

David Ferrer was beaten by Gilles Simon in a 4 setter in the 3rd Round. David had been struggling all week and it seemed like his body finally got the better of him. His back was taped, and he looked unwell to me. Unfortunate.

Andy Murray is still in the running, he has had a few struggles so far, especially in his 4 set match vs Haase in Round 1. He's still here though, and playing with determination.

Thiem played Gulbis, who he beat in 5 sets. Ernests was not in a good physical condition, he needed treatment on his back, and his knee was feeling the pressure as well as his head. Dominic Thiem was great though, he kept plugging away and was rewarded in the end. He beat Lopez in straight sets in Round 3.

After this first week on the men's side, we know that Novak is back to normal, and will most likely have a very good run in New York. He's winning easily in straight sets, and the doubts seem to have floated away. It's not a confirmed win yet though. The draw is becoming interesting…

When it comes to the women's draw, it's been a little more interesting. The first top seed to go, was Radwanska. Simona Halep is also out. She's battled hard this week, but Lucic-Baroni prevailed in Round 3, only to be beaten by Sara Errani in the next round.

Wozniacki is looking very good, she had a very comfortable win over Petkovic in the 3rd round. She also beat Sharapova to reach the QFs. She has been playing excellently this week.

Serena is playing fabulously again, having comfortable straight sets wins over all American opponents! Venus was not so happy however, she lost her 3rd Round match to Sara Errani.

The young women's players are really impressing at this grand slam. 15 year old Cici Bellis famously knocked out Cibulkova in round 1, but couldn't back up the victory.

Belinda Bencic, another rising star took out Kerber and Jankovic.

Aleksandra Krunic, the 21 year old Serbian, has taken out Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova so far. Her play is impressive, and we're likely to see a lot more of her in the future.

I'm interested to see how the rest of the tournament goes, who knows what else will happen?! If I've missed any players- sorry! Have a wonderful week everyone, enjoy the open.

@rafanadaladdict