After making quick work of Mikhail Youzhny in his first round match of the 2015 Australian Open, it appeared as though Rafael Nadal might have been a little further ahead than most thought he would be heading into the first Grand Slam event of the season.
However, in the eyes of some, that all changed following his second round match against American Tim Smyczek. While the 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5 marathon was one heck of a match, the fact he needed four plus hours to sneak past a player whom currently sits 112th in the world rankings was not exactly a good sign.
As if playing a grand total of seven competitive matches since losing to Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios in the Round of Sixteen at Wimbledon wasn’t already a big enough hurdle to try and overcome, yesterday’s struggles has many a tennis fan wondering if the No. 3 seed will have enough left in the tank to reach the second week of play in the year’s first major.
While one can certainly understand why some would think Rafa could be in trouble, there are two things to keep in mind. First, the reason Smyczek was able to push the fourteen-time Grand Slam winner to the degree he did had little to do with the talented Spaniard’s level of play and everything to do with his health.
I felt very tired. I felt, I don't know. At the end of the first set, I start to feel my body very bad, very tired. I don't know. I was worrying crazy. Then when I was serving for the third, almost throw up. So was terrible feeling, no? I suffered too much on court for three hours and a half. I was suffering a lot. Too much.
That was a direct quote from Nadal’s post-match news conference and says all you need to know about how he was feeling throughout the better part of the match. With that being the case, should we really be holding that performance against him as a potential contender for this year’s crown? In this writer's mind the answer to that question is an unequivocal no.
In all honesty, should the former World No. 1 be able to recover from whatever it was that was affecting him against Smyczek and allow him the opportunity to go into his third round match with Dudi Sela in good health, last night’s victory might just end up being the moment this tournament turned in the twenty-eight year old’s favor.
The other thing to keep in mind, of the top four seeds Nadal has by far and away the easiest road to travel in order to reach the semi-finals. While a potential quarter-final date with Tomas Berdych does loom in the distance, Nadal holds a career mark of 18-3 against the No. 7 seed and has not lost to him since 2006.
With seventeen straight wins in head-to-head matchups under his belt, something tells me it would not be much of a stretch to suggest that total would grow by one should they meet in a weeks’ time. As far as the trio of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka are concerned, they could be looking at the following potential matchups in their quarterfinal dates.
Djokovic - Milos Raonic
Federer - Andy Murray
Wawrinka - Kei Nishikori
Not sure about all of you but that screams advantage Nadal and considering he would take on the winner of the Federer - Murray battle in the semi-finals, two men who he has enjoyed an immense amount of success against, he could quite easily finding himself in the final of the Australian Open for third time in four years.
While we are still quite a ways away from seeing how this all ultimately plays out, one thing is clear, Rafael Nadal is still very much in this tournament and anyone who believes otherwise is frankly kidding themselves.
