Rafael Nadal vs Florian Mayer Australian Open R1 Preview and Live Stream: Nadal opens against fit-again Mayer The Australian Open as been the least productive Slam for Rafael Nadal, with only one of his 14 major titles coming in Melbourne. Nadal won his solitary Australian Open crown in 2009, when he strung together those back-to-back epics against Verdasco and Roger Federer; and while he has produced many other magnificent performances in Melbourne, he has fallen just short of doubling his tally. He was a break up in the final set against Novak Djokovic in the 2012 final, but an ill-fated missed backhand changed the course of the tide; and he went into the 2014 final as favourite, but a combination of injury and the outstanding Stan Wawrinka denied the Spaniard on that occasion.
Nadal has been less successful in Melbourne in the last two years, keeping in tune with his career as a whole. He suffered a rare loss to Tomas Berdych in the 2015 quarter-final, before succumbing to Verdasco in the opening round last year. That loss set the tone for a disappointing campaign, during which the 30-year-old failed to make a Grand Slam quarter final for the first time since 2004.
Questions have been asked about Nadal’s ability to get back into Grand Slam contention, but the Spaniard is adamant that he can still add to his 14 major titles. After pulling the plug early on his 2016 campaign, he has made an encouraging start to the new season. He successfully defended his title at the Mubadala World Tennis championship in Abu Dhabi- an exhibition event- and played some good tennis in Brisbane before falling to Milos Raonic in the quarter finals- a match he controlled for a set and a half. The early signs are certainly good, but so were they last year when Nadal won in Abu Dhabi, and reached the final in Doha- only to stumble into the first hurdle in Melbourne. Nadal admitted on the eve of the Australian Open that he played through the pain barrier for the most part of the second half of last season, but the Spaniard has declared that he is now injury-free, and ready for another shot at the Melbourne title.
If Nadal’s injury problems have been worrying, spare a thought for poor old Florian Mayer, who has been charged to take down the Spaniard on Tuesday.
Now 33, Mayer has been as high as number 18 in the world, but a nightmarish couple of injury-ridden seasons have rocked a very good career. The German has had two lengthy spells on the sidelines within the last three years. First he didn’t play between March 2014 and April 2015 because of a hip problem, but his return was short-lived as he retired from a first round match against Martin Klizan at the US Open because of a torn right adductor tendon, and he wouldn’t be seen again for the next seven months, making another return to the tour in April 2016.
Two months after that comeback, Mayer won the Halle title on home soil, producing a high quality week during which he beat Andreas Seppi, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev in consecutive rounds to claim the biggest career title. For a man that had suffered so much ill luck, that provided one of the feel-good stories of the year. While he didn’t make any other significant mark on the ATP Tour, he won back-to-back Challenger titles in Portoroz and Meerbusch, helping himself to a current ranking of 49 after dropping below 600 at the depth of his injury woes.
Mayer is yet to win a match in 2017, but he has been involved in two close contests that could have turned either way. He lost his opening match at the Qatar Open in Doha to Horacio Zeballos- 11-9 in the third set tie break, and he a suffered similar fate in Sydney, losing to Paola Lorenzi, 7-5 in a final set tie break. The German is yet to get to the quarter finals of a Grand Slam outside Wimbledon, but he did produce his best performance at the Australian Open in his last visit to Melbourne in 2014. Mayer scored victories over Denis Kudla, Mikhail Youzhny and Jerzy Janowicz before falling to David Ferrer in four sets in the round of 16. Mayer has played Nadal on three occasions, with the German emerging victorious in their only meeting on a hard court. Nadal’s two victories have come on clay.
Mayer has got a big bag of tricks in his locker. He’s got a good serve on him, and while his groundstrokes are not the biggest, his unorthodox style will make life uncomfortable for Nadal. The German utilises the slice a lot, and also goes to the net quite often, sometimes very unexpectedly. He will get under Nadal’s skin at several points during their contest, but expect Nadal to overpower the German veteran and advance to the second round of the Australian Open.
