Nadal still feels the nerves
EVEN after 858 wins and 15 grand slam titles, Rafa Nadal still suffers from bouts of nervousness and it showed in Saturday’s 6-7(3) 6-3 6-1 6-4 third-round win against Argentine Leonardo Mayer at the US Open.
The world number one needed to wait for his 14th opportunity to break his opponent but by that time Mayer had taken the first set by winning the tiebreak.
“Of course, you are under stress when you see that you have opportunities almost in every game, and you are not able to convert them,” said Nadal. “At the beginning you get nerves when you don’t convert opportunities.”
Once he broke to lead 3-2 in the second set, Nadal appeared to be free of his early jitters and took hold of the match.
“When finally I did it, everything changed. I was able to play more freely, to start to attack better with my forehand,” said the Spaniard, who hit only 13 unforced errors in the last three sets, having made 13 in the opening set.
“I had more forehands down the line, hitting some good backhands later. I think the level of tennis after that break have been very positive.”
Nadal, who is chasing a second grand slam title this year after claiming a record-extending 10th French Open title in June, is growing more confident ahead of his clash with Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov.
“I hope that the last three sets can be a good turning point for me because, in my opinion, I played much better today than the two previous days later in the match,” he said.
Dolgopolov has had an impressive run at Flushing Meadows, beating 15th seed Tomas Berdych and Serbia’s Viktor Troicki in previous rounds, but Nadal has a plan.
“I need to play aggressive. I need to feel that when I’m hitting the forehand, he’s not able to take advantage on the point. That’s going to be my goal,” said Nadal.
“You need matches like this. Now I have the opportunity to compete again, to try to do it well.”
Meanwhile, Nadal criticised organisers for waiting three days before suspending Fabio Fognini from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct during his first round defeat.
The 22nd seed Fognini was cited for three code violations during his 6-4 7-6(8) 3-6 6-0 loss to fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia on Wednesday and was heard directing vulgar language towards Swedish chair umpire Louise Engzell.
He was slapped with $24000 in fines on Friday but was allowed to play two matches in the doubles tournament with partner Simone Bolelli before the Grand Slam Board announced their decision to suspend Fognini on Saturday.
“Of course (it) is not a positive thing (what Fognini did),” Nadal said. “Of course if you are not doing the right things on the court, of course you need to be in some way affected.
“But at the same time it’s true that things can be made (to) happen earlier because I believe that he played two matches after that match, two doubles matches.
“If they want to suspend him, (it would) be much better to do it immediately, not three days later or four days later.”
Renowned for his temper, 30-year-old Fognini posted an apology on Twitter.
“It was just a very bad day, but it did not forgive my behaviour in the match,” it said.
“Although I’m a hot-head (and though I’ve been right in most circumstances) I was wrong. But in the end it’s only a tennis game.”
Fognini has previously been in hot water for his on-court behaviour at the grand slams. At Wimbledon in 2014, he was fined $27 500 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
After two marathons, Roger Federer had the after-burners on, sprinting past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-3 7-5 and into the fourth round on Saturday.
Chasing a sixth US Open title, Federer needed just one hour and 46 minutes to put away the 31st seed Lopez, leaving plenty in the tank after being forced to go the distance in his opening two matches.
In his opening two matches at Flushing Meadows, a misfiring Federer had been forced to five sets, first by American young gun Frances Tiafoe then Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny.
After being broken eight times and committing a whopping 124 unforced errors in those first two contests, a focused Federer tightened up his game against Lopez, operating with his hallmark efficiency.
“It was clearly nice to go up two sets to love for a change,” smiled the Swiss. “I was happy I had good energy because I think that was my biggest worry, that somehow after the two five-setters that I was going to feel a little slow, hard to throw the engine on, that I would have to force myself so much, I would get tired from that."
A capacity crowd saw Federer try out everything in his tool bag. The timely big serve, the elegant backhand, laser forehands, hustle and defence were all on display.
He committed just 16 unforced errors while firing 32 winners to run his record to 13-0 against the 35-year-old Spaniard.
Federer started the match as if he had dinner reservations, breaking Lopez to go up 4-2 then holding serve to clinch the opening set in a snappy 25 minutes.
He marched on, his focus only faltering slightly in the third set when he allowed Lopez to break back.
But the 36-year-old Swiss just buckled down and broke Lopez again to close out the match and set up a fourth round meeting with German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
“I know Philipp very well. Practised with him a ton,” said Federer. “Had some good matches against him in the past.
“He’s a good player. Has a nice one-handed backhand, which I love to see, of course.”
Roared on by a raucous crowd as the rain tapped on the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, Madison Keys claimed a 2-6 6-4 6-1 win over Russian Elena Vesnina in the early hours of Sunday to reach the fourth round.
The 15th-seeded American recovered from a woeful start to down 17th seed Vesnina and set up a meeting with Elina Svitolina.
Svitolina downed local favourite Shelby Rogers 6-4 7-5 but there will still be five Americans in the women’s last 16, with Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Jennifer Brady and CoCo Vandeweghe also through.
Brady battled to a 6-3 4-6 7-6(3) defeat of Monica Niculescu, while Vandeweghe beat 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5 4-6 6-4.
Keys shrieked a long ‘come on!’ when Vesnina buried a shot into the net on the second match point.
“You guys were amazing, I definitely did not show up very well for the first set but you helped me get back into the match, thank you for helping me through that one,” Keys told the crowd.
“I think I finally settled in after being a bit over-amped at the start. Who doesn’t love a late show?” – Reuters