Scouting Report: 10 Things To Watch In Madrid

The second of the season’s three clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, the Mutua Madrid Open, is set to get underway on Sunday. World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will look to extend his record of titles at the tournament to six. No. 4 seed Juan Martin del Potro, who won back-to-back titles at Acapulco and Indian Wells, returns to action for the first time since reaching the Miami semi-finals (l. to Isner), and he leads the field that will compete with Nadal for the trophy at the Caja Mágica.

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1) Fantastic Field: Monte-Carlo champion Rafael Nadal headlines a Madrid field that features 17 of the Top 20 players in the ATP Rankings. Seven different men have captured the past seven ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles for the first time since 2009 Montreal through 2010 Monte-Carlo. Not since 2001 Hamburg through 2002 Monte-Carlo have eight different players won eight Masters 1000 events in succession.

2) One of a Kind: Nadal has won 19 matches and 46 sets in a row on clay, including his 10th Roland Garros, 11th Monte-Carlo and 11th Barcelona titles. The Spaniard’s 46-set streak is an Open Era record on clay and three sets shy of the mark on any surface, set by John McEnroe on carpet in 1984.

READ Q & A: Nadal Says Fans In Madrid Help Him

3) Spaniard’s Standards: Nadal is 401-35 on clay with an ATP World Tour-best winning rate of 0.920. Since Madrid moved to clay in 2009, Nadal is 34-5 at Caja Mágica (0.872). He’s won five Madrid titles overall, including his only indoor hard-court championship in 2005. Nadal needs a sixth Madrid title this week to remain World No. 1. Otherwise, Roger Federer will return to the top spot in the ATP Rankings on 14 May.

4) No. 1 Contender: World No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro returns to action this week for the first time since John Isner ended his 15-match winning streak in the Miami semi-finals on 30 March. The Argentine is 21-4 this season, highlighted by his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells. Del Potro is attempting to reach a clay-court semi-final for the first time since Madrid in 2012 on the blue clay.

5) Comeback Trail: Two-time Madrid champion Novak Djokovic is 5-5 in 2018 as he continues his comeback from a right elbow injury. Djokovic remains responsible for 20 per cent of Nadal’s losses on clay, earning the first of seven FedEx ATP Head2Head clay-court victories over his Spanish rival in the 2011 Madrid final.

6) Close Calls: Djokovic will meet 2014 Madrid finalist Kei Nishikori in the first round. Nishikori is 0-4 lifetime in Masters 1000 finals. While Mardy Fish also went 0-4 in championship matches at the elite level, only former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov played more Masters 1000 finals without lifting a trophy (0-5). Nishikori has shown good form, finishing runner-up in Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal).

7) Mastering 1000s: World No. 3 Alexander Zverev won Masters 1000 titles in Rome and Montreal in 2017, then reached another final in Miami this year, all before his 21st birthday on 20 April. 

8) Tsitsipas Sizzling: Zverev could face #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round. Tsitsipas, a former World No. 1 junior like Zverev, broke into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings after reaching his first final at Barcelona. He was rewarded with a wild card into Madrid.

9) Los Madrileños: Familiar faces Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco are also in the draw. Lopez has played in all 17 editions of the Mutua Madrid Open, while Verdasco only missed the first. Verdasco is one win shy of 500 tour-level victories. Lopez is not far behind with 462 triumphs.

10) 40-Love: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who turned 40 on 29 April, have reached all three Masters 1000 doubles finals thus far in 2018. They’ve won 16 of their past 18 finals at this level, including Miami and Monte-Carlo this year. The Bryans are five-time Madrid champions.