Tennis Prose




Apr/17

22

Will Rafa Make it a Perfect 10?


by Henk Abbink
Tennis is getting ready for an all-lefty, all-Spanish Monte Carlo final. Rafael Nadal and Albert Ramos-Vinolas are the two last men standing after a week chock-full of surprises and upsets. This final may not be considered as exciting as a Roger-Rafa or Novak-Rafa final. The fact that another chapter to tennis history may be added tomorrow, however, has fans worldwide waiting in anticipation.

 

 

Nine-time champion Rafa will meet first-time Masters finalist Albert for the third time. Ramos-Vinolas has definitely earned his final spot, after the top 10 damage he caused this week, beating no. 1 seed Andy Murray, no. 5 seed Marin Cilic and sending home French favorite Lucas Pouille in three sets (6-3, 5-7,6-1) today. Pouille came through an equally strong draw that saw both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7) and Stan Wawrinka (3) bowing out.

Court Philippe Chatrier in Paris and Court Rainier III at the Monte-Carlo Country Club have been Rafa’s homes away from home. The same goes for Barcelona, where  Rafa even has ‘his own’ court. As of this 65th edition of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, center court is now called “Pista Rafa Nadal”. The common denominator is that Rafa has been reigning these courts for more than a decade now, lifting trophies an unprecedented nine times on all three.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas has only won one tournament (Bastad) so far, but he has been on a roll in Monaco all week. Things seem to have started ‘getting together’ for Albert after reaching the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year. He then won Bastad and feels this has given him more and more confidence. According to Albert himself, his South American clay court results (two semis, one quarter-final) have also shown he has been playing better and better. His ultimate season’s reward is tomorrow’s final.

Albert will face a pumped up Rafa, who will definitely want to make yet another date with history a successful one. The last time Nadal faced a fellow lefty Spaniard in the Monte-Carlo final was in 2010, when Tennis Prose witnessed he conceded only one game to Fernando Verdasco.  The year after Tennis-Prose was court side for another all-Spanish final in which Rafa edged David Ferrer.  Albert, however, has shown he is feeling very much at home too on Rafa’s soil. If he is able to recover well from his previous three consecutive, hard-fought, three set matches, this will be a super confident and different Albert from the one Rafa faced in their previous encounters (2-0 Rafa).

A little bit of history:

No matter the end result, Rafa’s clay dominance in the principality is already of an incredibly historic nature. In 2003 he qualified for the tournament at age 16 and wasn’t stopped until the third round by eventual champion Guillermo Coria. He didn’t participate in 2004 because of injury. As of 2005 he subsequently played 9 finals in a row, winning the tournament a historic eight consecutive years and a ninth time last year (Tennis-Prose, of course, was court side again when Rafa lost his only final (2013 vs Novak Djokovic).

Will Rafa lift his 10th crown tomorrow or will Albert continue his successful run and invade Rafa’s home turf? Predictions…?     (Text and photos by Henk Abbink)

 

 

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3 comments

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2017 at 7:05 pm

    It would be a shock if anyone boldly predicted Alberto Vinolas to beat Nadal to tommorow afternoon – just can’t see it happening at all – Rafa is having an excellent 2017 since early January he has been superb and now he’s on his favorite surface and extremely motivated to finally win a final of which he is 0-3 so far this year (all losses to Federer) – If it were up to me to make the odds I would give Ramos Vinolas a one in a billion chance to beat Rafa 🙂 Hopefully Ramos Vinolas will make a fool of me and put forth an astonishing performance – Ramos Vinolas is an uncanny player who gradually has ascended over the last two years to this lofty position as a ATP 1000 finalist –

  • Thomas Tung · April 24, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    The odds of a Spaniard beating Nadal on clay is like climbing Mount Everest multiple times within a year — not really gonna happen, and too much respect for the “Spanish hero” doomed Beto.

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 24, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    Did you see Juan Carlos Ferrero is back playing doubles in Barcelona? Now there is a guy who could take down Rafa possibly 🙂

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