Rafael Nadal vs. Mardy Fish – Quarterfinal Preview: Wimbledon Championships 2011
Defending champion, Rafael “Rafa” Nadal from Spain takes on world number nine Mardy Fish from America in their quarterfinal match at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships in London, England on Wednesday, 29th June.
A phenomenon in the tennis world, the reigning world number one Nadal is truly the favourite to not only win today’s quarterfinal match but also successfully defend his title on Sunday, July 3rd.
The only disadvantage to Nadal’s perfect chances could be the probable injury he suffered in the fourth round when he played the Argentine giant, Juan Martin Del Potro. Cleared in MRI scans since, Rafa still has a tender heel.
Although, he may very well be able to play through it like he did against Del Potro, it might prove to be some sort of a bother against Fish.
Having already belted three titles this year, Rafa’s worst (for want of a better word) run this season came at the Australian Open and AEGON Championships where he failed to make it past the quarterfinal losing to compatriot David
Ferrer and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga respectively. With seven final appearances this year, Rafa has been successful in three of them winning at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and the prestigious Roland Garros.
He also made it to the finals of Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome though he failed to clinch the title, falling to the Serbian juggernaut, Novak Djokovic. Although Rafa has yet to defeat the Djoker this season, he was able
to add another win to his count against once world number one Roger Federer.
It seems that in the current season, only the likes of Djokovic and Federer can best the world number one. His 5-0 lead in the head-to-head series against Fish and an impressive 29-4 career win loss at the All England Lawn Tennis
and Croquet Club only adds to this fact.
A four time finalist at Wimbledon, Rafa won the title in 2008 defeating Federer and then in 2010 defeated Czech Tomas Berdych.
Next to this almost perfect record, Fish has already been written off from the match. Contesting in his first quarterfinal here – and only his second Grand Slam quarterfinal, Fish doesn’t have much chance of progressing any further.
With his best run of the season coming at the Miami Masters where he made to the semi-final before losing to eventual champion, Djokovic, Fish sports a meagre 18-11 for the season. Achieving his career best world number nine ranking
earlier in the month, Fish has more to thank the top ten exits like Jurgen Melzer and Mikhail Youzhny than credit his own performance. An absolute disappointment at the first two Grand Slams, Fish failed to make it past the early rounds.
This will be the pair’s second Wimbledon meeting and also their second meeting in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. The pair had met for the first round at Wimbledon in 2007 and then in 2008 for the quarterfinal match at the US Open,
with Nadal emerging as the victor on both occasions.
Prediction: Enjoying the statistical advantage with the best form in his career, a hundred percent fit Nadal is expected to emerge as the victor in three sets. A little resistance from Fish might push the set to
four sets, though the result will remain unaffected.
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