Rafael Nadal vs Pablo Andujar Preview – French Open 2011
Top Spaniard Rafael “Rafa” Nadal continues his title defence at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France on Thursday as he meets compatriot, Pablo Andujar for his second round matchup.
A five time champion here, Nadal is truly a phenomenon at the Roland Garros. Debuting here in 2005, Nadal clinched his first career Grand Slam in his first attempt. If a debut win wasn’t enough to put the Spaniard on the map, Rafa returned year after year for the next three years to clinch back to back titles here.
The Spaniard’s perfect record hit a slump in 2009 when family problems and knee injuries, forced a quarterfinal exit on the clay champion, losing to Robin Soderling from Sweden. Determined to reclaim his crown here, Nadal returned in 2010 and defeated the very same Swede to claim his fifth title here.
Although hopeful for a successful title defence here, things couldn’t have gone more wrong for the Spaniard. Hitting it off against John Isner in the first round on Tuesday, Nadal was forced to fight to stay in the match as the young American forced five sets on the defending champion. Could this be an omen of things to come?
Sporting a 36-6 win loss mark for the season, Nadal has made it to six finals this season, though only clinching the title in two of them. Is this acceptable of the King?
Fever struck in the season opener at Doha, Nadal fell in the semis to Russian Nikolay Davydenko. His next unsuccessful run came at the season opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open, where he cited an injury as he lost to compatriot David Ferrer in the quarterfinal.
However, Rafa’s form took a turn for the better as he came to the Masters Series. Although he lost on four occasions to the juggernaut Novak Djokovic in the title match, “kudos” to the Spaniard to at least make it to the final - finally (His first final appearance of the season came in March!). The King did, however, manage two title wins at Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
In comparison, Andujar (or any lower ranked Spaniard) pales in front of the King. Sporting an almost level 13-11 win loss record for the season, Andujar suffered early round exits in almost all of the events he participated in. His only successful run of the season came in April when he won the title match at Casablanca, defeating Potito Starace.
Having never met before, neither player holds the statistical advantage over the other. However, Nadal holds every ace in the deck. Although Nadal may suffer a mental block against the Djoker this season, he is still the best player out there against any other opponent.
Prediction: Nadal is expected to outplay his compatriot in straight sets especially since the latter has never made it past the second round here. Pitted against Nadal, Andujar cannot expect to turn things around save an injury make Nadal unfit to play.
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