Couldn't watch the match (thx rain). Watching the highlights, RAFA looked pretty shaky. With this tough draw, it'll give him immense confidence if he wins this
Vamos!
Must admit Nadal did look dodgy today... having said that, they say the sign of a champion is to grind out results when not playing too well. At least he's through and I would still have him as the favourite for this event.
Yeah, this was hard to watch! I have a feeling Rafa will lose very soon in this tournament and focus all his energy on the clay season, I hope I am wrong...
Most people here don't follow tennis so they aren't aware that Nadal plays down to his opponents in the early rounds.
Having said that, he was sick at Indian Wells so he wasn't simply playing down to his opponents in that event.
I haven't heard of him being sick here at Miami though.
I was thinking Kohli could potentially do some damage to Pocahontas but then I checked the h2h and he's 1-13 overall, with Kohli's only victory being on grass, so no.
Nadal has never won Paris masters. I think Shanghai doesn't really count because of the Madrid title won in 05. So Nadal only has 2 left I think, Paris and Miami
Nadal plays down to his opponents, just look at about 90% of tournaments he's ever played and you see how much sharper he is versus the high-ranked players compared to the qualifiers.
I think part of this is his love for being the underdog - not that he's the underdog vs high-ranked players, but he's not as big of a favorite - so he likes that.
Nadal has trouble being fully motivated when he has to play a qualifier, so he's not as sharp mentally.
He tries to win every point still, but subconsciously he's not as dialed-in.
So its not like he's lacking focus the way Fognini or Tomic lack focus, because their lack of focus is linked to their conscious state, whereas Nadal's lack of motivation is controlled by his subconscious (a lack of motivation that is beneath the surface, and unintentional).
Finally got to see the highlights of the match. Glad Nadal pulls through. Every top player would occasionally have a wonky match at one point or another... better early in the tournament than later.
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