Nishikori, Not Nadal, the New King of Clay in Barcelona?; Bucharest; ATP Previews

by Staff | April 16th, 2016, 11:30 am
  • 21 Comments

BARCELONA OPEN BANCSABADELL
Barcelona, Spain; Surface: clay

ADHEREL
Seeds: Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori, David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet, Roberto Bautista Agut, Benoit Paire, Feliciano Lopez, Viktor Troicki, Pablo Cuevas, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Fabio Fognini, Jeremy Chardy, Joao Sousa, Thomaz Bellucci, Andrey Kuznetsov

Floaters: Ernests Gulbis, Nicolas Almagro, Alexander Zverev

Notes: Nadal leads the four Top 10 players in his homecountry event that boasts a 64 draw including opening-round byes to all 16 seeds…The tournament courted Novak Djokovic after his early loss in Monte Carlo to no avail…Not a lot of floating talent, but a few interesting openers including the struggling (12) Fognini up against it vs. the winner of Mikhail Youzhny/Rajeev Ram, (8) Troicki vs. whichever incarnation of Gulbis shows up, (6) Paire vs. Almagro, and (15) Bellucci vs. the talented German comer Zverev…Wildcards went to France’s Paire, Sweden’s Elias Ymer, and Spain’s Montanes and Jaume Munar…Pulling from the event were the homecountry’s Pablo Andujar and Tommy Robredo, along with Kevin Anderson, Martin Klizan and Leo Mayer…Nishikori is the two-time defending champion, last year beating Andujar in the final…”I am happy to be back in Barcelona. I feel good and hope to win my third consecutive title here,” Nishikori said…Nadal won the title in eight of nine years prior to that…Ferrer is 0-4 in Barcelona finals…Former champs in the field are Nishikori (2015-14) and Nadal (2013-11,’09-05).


BRD NASTASE TIRIAC TROPHY
Bucharest, Romania; Surface: clay

Seeds: Bernard Tomic, Ivo Karlovic, Federico Delbonis, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Marcos Baghdatis, Guido Pella, Paolo Lorenzi, Paul-Henri Mathieu

Floaters: Robin Haase, Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco, Lukas Rosol

Notes: No Top 20 players, but Bernie Tomic takes a late wild card and the top spot…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Tomic could open against Haase; the two have never played and both of the Dutchman’s career titles have come on clay…In addition to Tomic, wildcards went to Romanians Marius Copil and Adrian Ungur…Nicolas Mahut pulled from the event…Garcia-Lopez beat Czech Jiri Vesely in last year’s final…Returning champs in the field are Garcia-Lopez (2015) and Rosol (2013). G-Lo will be looking to become the first repeat champ since Gilles Simon in 2007-08…Homeboy wildcards Copil/Ungur are the defending doubles title winners.

 


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21 Comments for Nishikori, Not Nadal, the New King of Clay in Barcelona?; Bucharest; ATP Previews

Green Lady Says:

Nice and quick with a Barcelona thread tennis-x, but please less of this new KOC talk, there only is one KOC, let the rest surpass Rafas records then we talk about a new KOC ? …..


Okiegal Says:

@GL……Spot on! Anybody with any tennis sense at all won’t put up an argument about that, surely???


Okiegal Says:

Interesting Margot…..he said in a interview the other day that he did not miss tennis while rehabbing the knee and enjoyed being with his family…..He said the knee was ok but maybe after playing on it, repercussion of a niggle??? Hope not, Fed still important for the sport.


jane Says:

Murray on Nadal: “He’s one of the best, if not the best ever, on this surface.”

margot! you have to take this quiz and tell me how you do. i did horribly… only got 6 right. i am assuming you will do much better. :)

http://graphics.wsj.com/quiz/?slug=murray&standalone=1


Green Lady Says:

Jane 7 out of 11 for me ….


Anto Says:

I got an 8 out of 11 for me .. :)


Margot Says:

jane, I’ve seen that quiz before. It’s hilarious. Think I got 8, but could easily have got 0!
Am very impressed by OK’s score. Obviously a true Andywannabee at heart ;)


Lodhi Says:

Ladies ! Lodhi got 8 out of 11. Feeling a sense of accomplishment !

Skeez? Where art thou ? Wanna take the test ? FYI: It’s not about Fed.


danica Says:

I got 9 out of 11!!! :)
I missed #3 and #9.
:)


Annie Says:

Green Lady…I second the motion…
who was this article written by? Someone who knows very little about titles/nicknames & respecting tennis players accomplishments.
Until someone comes along and matches all RAFAEL’s records on clay including 9 French Open crowns, don’t even think of calling anyone else the New KOC OR the next KOC…how disrespectful is that???


RZ Says:

That quiz always cracks me up. The first time I took it a year or so ago, I only got 2 right. Everyone else here is much more in tune with Andy’s emotions, but then again they are allowed to watch his matches and I am not. :-)


RZ Says:

The title of this article is specific to the tournament in Barcelona, Where Nishikori is the 2-time defending champion (though I think it would take more than 2 wins at a tournament to be considered the king there.)


Margot Says:

RZ @ 11.16
ROFL and in these circumstances I’m surprised you got two….;)


Margot Says:

PS RZ
You must have cheated……


RZ Says:

@Margot – it shows that when it comes to having a 50% chance of getting a question right, I usually am on the 50% side of getting it wrong!


Daniel Says:

I got 8 out of 11. The first angry face repeated itself 2 more times, exactly the same LOL


jalep Says:

I scored 5 of 11 😕


Okiegal Says:

This was a difficult test…. Andy is a funny character….hard to differentiate between mad and glad….I only got 6 right…….I beat jalep! 🙌


Okiegal Says:

@Margot 2:22…..Which OK are you talking about?? I am confused…..had not taken the test at the time of your post….I did not do good….Andy is a tricky one!! 🆗

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