![]() Venus Williams, now 43, will also be competing in her first tournament of the season and she faces a qualifier in the opening round. Meanwhile, Dan Evans will play Roman Safiullin in round one. Jack Draper begins against Christopher O’Connell, with the winner tackling Alexander Zverev. After her brilliant run to the San Diego title, Katie Boulter will face Camila Giorgi in round one with Iga Swiatek, the top seed, a potential third-round opponent. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Įmma Raducanu will also return to action against a qualifier, with a second-round match against Dayana Yastremska, the Australian Open semi-finalist, awaiting the winner. For more information see our Privacy Policy. He will be determined to prolong it as he faces Nadal on Thursday night.Įnter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. Raonic’s body seems incompatible with the rigours of tennis at the moment and his career seems to be winding down. But he was also forced to retire from both of those matches due to injury. Despite their starkly contrasting game-styles, Nadal and Raonic have much in common right now, with Raonic taking two years out between 20 after a series of dispiriting injuries.Īlthough he has compiled just a 7-6 record upon his return, Raonic still possesses one of the greatest serves of all time and remains competitive he took a set off the in-form Alex de Minaur at the Australian Open and then provided some of Jannik Sinner’s toughest opposition in his Rotterdam title run last month. Nadal leads the head-to-head 8-2 and the winner will face Holger Rune, the No 7 seed, in round two. In his tight three-set quarter-final loss to Jordan Thompson in Brisbane, he just looked mentally and physically rusty after such a long layoff.Ī significant first-round match awaits Nadal in Indian Wells as he faces the former world No 3 Milos Raonic, a match-up that played out in a Masters 1000 final 11 years ago in Toronto. His forehand was still firing brilliantly, he moved well enough and he continues to offset his waning athleticism by relying more heavily on his vast array of shots. Even after just three matches in January, he clearly looked good. The positive news for Nadal is there are fewer doubts about his level. ![]() At 37 he remains as passionate and motivated about his career and the work it demands of him, but there are only so many more setbacks he can take. There have already been so many injuries throughout Nadal’s career and he has spoken about recovering mentally from them, so much time spent in rehab and the unfortunate effect they have had on his daily life. The question surrounding him has not changed: can he remain fit enough to regularly compete at the highest level again? ![]() This week, Nadal returns again at Indian Wells, the first joint ATP/WTA 1000 event of the year, as he looks to rebuild his momentum and form with his favoured clay court season approaching. ![]()
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