Three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander has dubbed former World No. 4 Juan Martin Del Potro as a ‘nightmare’ opponent for overwhelming favorite Rafael Nadal, who will be eyeing a place in a record 11th Roland Garros final on Friday.
Defending champion Rafael Nadal, looked down and out against Del Potro’s countryman Diego Schwartzman in their quarterfinal on Wednesday, but a lucky rain delay eventually saved him from what could have been the biggest tennis upset in recent years. When the play resumed on Thursday afternoon the Spaniard seemed to have found his groove and it took him little time in figuring out a strategy, which would gave him an upper hand in the contest.
Nadal immediately started to target the Argentine’s backhand, imparting more and more topspin to pin down his rival into the corners, thus opening up the court beautifully to hit his famous forehand with more pace and depth. In the end, it simply proved too much for Schwartzman as he couldn’t find any answers to Nadal’s aggressive play from the baseline.
However, Nadal’s next adversary Del Potro will not have any problems in dealing with the 32-year-old Majorcan’s game as due to his height he will be able to negate the amount of topspin Nadal will generate on his ground-strokes.
“He is a nightmare opponent for Nadal,” Wilander told Reuters.
“He portrays someone who believes in himself as much as Federer, more than (Novak) Djokovic and more than (Andy) Murray.
“Sometimes he gets fired up but has this calm about him that I think worries Nadal and Federer. They think, what’s he up to? Has he figured me out?
“He is tall so Rafa’s shots don’t bounce over his shoulder, he has big weapons, the serve which gives him free points and the forehand which is the biggest in the game and he can hit through Nadal’s forehand with it.
“Delpo is not afraid of too many players in the world.”
