ATP: Nadal on hard court three times – and then?

Tennis fans can get an idea of Rafael Nadal’s current state of health in Acapulco next week.

When combined events are discussed in the tennis circus, tournaments such as Indian Wells, Miami or Madrid come into focus alongside the Grand Slam tournaments. But the fact that Acapulco also serves men and women is often overlooked. Probably also because the women play only one tournament of the international category, the men a 500.

This year, however, special attention will be paid to the men’s field – and above all to one man: Rafael Nadal. The current number two in the world has given mixed signals after his injury-related task in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open against Marin Cilic: On the one hand, he wants to reduce his schedule slightly, Nadal said, and on the other hand, he does not want to recapture the tennis throne. On the other hand, Nadal has named for the tournament at London’s Queen’s Club, in a week in which he will still be recovering in 2017. for Wimbledon. And before that, three hard court tournaments and the entire sand season with the stations Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.

The choice of the Spanish Tennis Association of Valencia as the venue for the Davis Cup quarter-finals against Germany can be a hint that Nadal will miss out on the most traditional team competition this year as well. But it doesn’t have to be. The German team boss Michael Kohlmann is not yet prepared to draw definitive conclusions:”It’s not that easy to understand that Nadal doesn’t play,”Kohlmann explained in an interview with sportradio360. de. It depends primarily on how many matches Nadal will play in Indian Wells and Miami in the coming weeks, the decision about a 16-time Majority winner will only be made after that.

However, Kohlmann believes that this is an appointment (6. till 8. April), which most players like. When the Davis Cup matches are played on ashes – after all, the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo begins a week later. Nadal will definitely start there, no wonder, he is defending the title and has already won the trophy ten times in the Principality.

At the moment, however, the immediate plan is Acapulco. Nadal will start as the tournament’s favourite in an extremely strong field, challenged by five other players from the top ten: Marin Cilic, Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Juan Martin del Potro and Jack Sock. Nadal had been in the final last year, losing to Sam Querrey. The defending champion has also named for the current issue. At the big US hard court tournaments Nadal could, by the way, make up for a few points to Roger Federer, who has to defend both titles: Nadal was twice defeated by the Swiss, in the last sixteen of Indian Wells and in the final of Miami.