Rafael Nadal will meet Alexander Zverev in the battle of the generations in tomorrow’s third round Australian Open. We are going to investigate this fascinating match-up.
Former world number one vs future world number one. Passion vs hunger. Grand slam winner vs future grand slam winner. This has all the credentials for one of the best matches of this year’s Australian Open. Both men have different styles of play that makes this match fascinating, the spin and agression from Nadal against the big server and grinder in Zverev. It is intriguing to see how the new generation are taking over from the legends of the game and going deep in the major events. Now that Novak Djokovic has been eliminated, it is a chance for the likes of Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem to make their way onto the big stage. Can they use youth over experience though, that is what we will find out when the German meets the 14 time grand slam champion.
Form
So far this season Rafael Nadal has reached the quarterfinals of Brisbane by beating Alexandr Dolgopolov and Mischa Zverev before losing to Milos Raonic. The Spaniard has looked in superious form so far in Melbourne, after comfortably dispatching Florian Mayer and Marcos Baghdatis. So Nadal will bring confidence going into his big clash on Rod Laver Arena tomorrow.
While Alexander Zverev started his season at the Hopman cup in Perth, he lost to Richard Gasquet in his first match before he picked up tough wins against Roger Federer and Dan Evans. So far in the Australian Open it has been a tale of two matches. In his first match he struggled against veteran Robin Haase as he fought back valiantly from 2 sets to 1 to advance. While the second match produced a sensational performance from the tall German as he convincingly beat young American Frances Tiafoe, to set up tomorrow’s big clash.
Previous Meetings
The two players have met once and it was a thrilling contest, it happened in Indian Wells where Zverev missed a shocking volley at the net to give the match to Nadal. It was a match where both players shined and a warning of what Zverev can produce. Nadal won the match 6-7(8) 6-0 7-5 and some of the highlights are below:
What did they have to say?
Rafael Nadal took the opportunity to give praise to his opponent before the match, “He has all the shots: great serve, great forehand, great backhand, everything. He’s a complete player. I need to put a rhythm very, very high to try to don’t let him play in comfortable positions. That’s what I going to try”
While Alexander Zverev responded to Nadal’s praise, “It’s obviously great to hear from a legend like him that he thinks I can be very good and he thinks I can be good in the future, As well, I know that I still have to work very hard. I still have to, you know, improve a lot to be up there with them.”
Analysis
For Nadal it is about continuing his momentum and continue his level of play. He needs to return well and his base level of play needs to be at a high level. He needs to use psychological advantage and test Zverev just like he did in California. If he can achieve this and win the key points, he can win the match. However as we know from the Pouille match last year, he can get nervous on the key points and will need to forget about these moments.
For Zverev, it’s about serving well and keeping consistency. First serve percentage needs to be high, as this is where he can dictate play. He needs to be physically and mentally strong to compete at the highest level with Nadal. If he can use the pace of the court to his advantage then he can cause an upset similar to what Istomin caused Djokovic. He will need to get rid of those match point demons from Indian wells to be mentally prepared for tomorrow.
Prediction
As well as Zverev is playing, I think Nadal has been playing brilliant tennis at the moment and will dispatch Zverev in four sets. As you know anything is possible in tennis.
