Former world No.1 Mats Wilander believes the speed of the court could be an issue for Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open after labelling the Spaniard as the second favourite to win the title.
Wilander, who won the Melbourne major three times during the 1980s, believes playing on a fast court is Nadal’s worst surface. The Spaniard is seeking to win his second title in Australia and his first since 2009. It is the only major tournament in his career that he hasn’t won on multiple occasions. He reached the final last year before suffering a comprehensive loss to Novak Djokovic.
“I really think that the Australian Open has become a little bit of a problem for Rafa,” said Wilander.
“The main reason why it is a small problem for Rafa is that the courts are playing very fast.
“I would say it is the fastest hard courts that they play on the whole year and I think for Rafa he has improved on every different surface, of course, he has, but when it comes to playing on a fast hard court to me it’s his worst surface.”
Whilst raising concerns about the surface, Melbourne isn’t Nadal’s worst performing grand slam in terms of matches won. At Wimbledon he has won 53 out of 65 matches played, but did win the tournament twice. In comparison, at the Australian Open he has won 61 out of 74 played. Nadal has featured in the main draw of both grand slams 14 times so far in his career.
“I think Rafa is the second favourite because of doing well in Davis Cup and now he is playing well in ATP Cup. He hasn’t really taken a break at the end of the year so I don’t think we will see a reaction from Rafa until after the Australian Open.” Wilander previewed.
As to who is the frontrunner this year, the Swede has lent his backing behind defending champion Novak Djokovic. The Serbian is the most decorated men’s singles champion in the history of the tournament with seven titles. One ahead of rival Roger Federer. Djokovic began his season by guiding his country the ATP Cup title. During the final tie, he downed Nadal in straight sets.
“So for the Australian Open I think that Novak is the slight favourite ahead of Nadal and then I think Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas and other players like Daniil Medvedev are in the mix, but I would say Novak is the big favourite for sure.” Wilander concludes.
The Australian Open will begin on Monday. Nadal starts against Bolivia’s Hugo Dellian and Djokovic faces Jan-Lennard Struff.
