Nadal Gets Away With One

In more doubles action in Montreal, Rafael Nadal and Francisco Roig met up with Novak Djokovic and Dusan Vemic yesterday. I don’t know where Nadal found his doubles partner, but he was a giant mess on the court. From Roig’s lack of returns and patty-cake volleys, it was clear that Nadal was going to have to go at it alone. Wasn’t Juan Carlos Ferrero available?

To the Serbs credit and detriment, they could have gone after Roig, but they instead brought the match to the Spanish champion. Nadal was able to cut his losses with his partner and take over the match. He ran everything down and hit winners from everywhere. It was pretty sick actually. Nadal kept his team within striking distance, and ultimately snatched the match from the Serbs.

The Spanish team got away with one and won the match 7-5 6-4. In future matches, other teams will only exploit the lack of balance in this pairing. They will play an experienced doubles team of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram today. We will see if Rafa & Company will get away with another one.

(Image: Denise/tennisfiend)