Preview: Monfils Takes On Nadal, Djokovic Building Momentum

Gael Monfils knows he needs plenty to go his way if he is to overturn a lop-sided 13-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head ledger against home favourite and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday. A bunch of racquets intact is a good start.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open & vote for who you think will win! 
Nadal vs Monfils | Djokovic vs Edmund | Schwartzman vs Lopez

Facing an opponent riding a 19-match winning streak, including his past 46 sets on the surface, Nadal presents a daunting task. It could be considered an unlucky draw for Monfils, a former World No. 6. 

Still, his tournament preparations have already run smoother in the Spanish capital than they did little more than a week ago. When a player complains of broken racquets, they rarely have anyone to blame but themselves for what is typically the result of venting their on-court frustrations. 

Not so, for Monfils when he touched down in Munich ahead of the BMW Open by FWU. The Frenchman arrived to discover all his racquets had been broken in transit. 

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His coach Mikael Tillstrom’s nephew came to the rescue with new racquets before the Frenchman fell to Mirza Basic in the opening round. Unbroken racquets and an opening-round victory over Georgian qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili in Madrid have made for a better start this week.

Against Nadal, in a clash of two 31-year-olds, Monfils will no doubt draw on the 2016 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final, in which he pushed the Spaniard to three sets. Monfils caused Nadal no end of trouble in that final with his incredible defence and point-clinching shot-making.

“Gael is a tough opponent for everybody,” Nadal said in Madrid. “He’s a player with a lot of talent, with a lot of potential. He’s a tough opponent, of course.”

Five-time champion Nadal comes off his 11th titles in Monte-Carlo title and Barcelona, respectively. John McEnroe’s 49-set winning streak on carpet in 1984 could well be broken in this tournament.

Monfils, a former No. 6 in the ATP Rankings, is working his way back from his current mark of World No. 41. In a bid to get some matches under his belt in 2018, he added clay-court tournaments in South America after the Australian Open, reaching a semi-final and two quarter-finals from four events.

Looking to build momentum from an impressive opening-round win against Kei Nishikori, former World No.1 Novak Djokovic meets Brit Kyle Edmund for the fourth time on Wednesday. The 10th-seeded Serbian – a two-time champion in Madrid – has not lost a set in three prior FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters with the 23-year-old. 

Edmund, however, brings clay-court form, coming off his first ATP World Tour final in Marakech (l. to Andujar) and a quarter-final defeat to eventual champion Joao Sousa in Estoril last week. Djokovic’s win over World No. 20 Nishikori was the biggest of his comeback this season.

“It was exactly what I needed for my confidence and for my game,” Djokovic said. “I was looking forward to having these kind of matches, looking to try to win these kind of matches.”

Second seed Alexander Zverev brings form to his second-round clash with Russian qualifier Evgeny Donskoy. The German comes off a successful title defence over compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber on clay in Munich. Donskoy ended #NextGenATP Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas’s impressive run of late in a third-set tie-break in the opening round.

Fifth seed Dominic Thiem also faces a qualifier in his Madrid opener in Argentine Federico Delbonis. The Austrian claimed their lone prior FedEx ATP meeting in 2015 and has already won a title this season on clay in Buenos Aires. After falling to Nadal in the 2017 Madrid final, Thiem went on to defeat the Spaniard five days later in the Rome quarter-finals.