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Rafael Nadal might have dropped down the seed rankings but he can be still expected to go a long way at Wimbledon 2015. His first round match will be against Thomaz Bellucci on Court 1 from 10:00pm (AEST).
Nadal has really fallen away through the seeds for the 2015 tournament at Wimbledon, a far cry from his former number one world ranking. This is mainly due to poor form that he has carried right through the calendar year, struggling to win tournaments and big games. That included a quarter final exit in the French Open against Novak Djokovic.
His form on grass heading into Wimbledon hasn’t been all that crash hot either.
He has participated in two tournaments at Stuttgart where yes he managed to win the tournament, however didn’t beat any big name opponents. His biggest win there was against Gael Monfils who you would expect Nadal to beat almost every time.
Nadal then moved onto the AEGON Championships in London and suffered a first round loss to Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Nadal has been dealt a tough draw with a decreased seeding and will need to be in strong form to make his way to the pointy end of the tournament.
By far Nadal’s worst grand slam is Wimbledon. After making the final three years in a row he has failed to make it out of the fourth round in the last three years, with a first and second round exit in 2013 and 2012 respectively. However he did record a tournament win at Wimbledon in 2008 and knows what it takes to go all the way.
Meanwhile, the world number 42 Bellucci has only played a single game since the clay court season finished which was at Nottingham in a three set loss to world number 74 Alexander Zverev. That sort of form will see a very nervours Bellucci in the opening exchanges of this clash with Nadal.
Bellucci has had four cracks at Wimbledon with his best performance being a third round exit in 2010. In 2011 and 2012 he was knocked out in the first round and since then has not returned to Wimbledon. His career record on grass is not an inspiring one whatsoever, winning just five from 15 career games. That is down from a career average winning percentage of around 58%.
For Bellucci to win this game against a player of Nadal’s calibre he is going to have to get off to a cracking start and get Nadal chasing and onto the back foot.
The pair have previously met on four occasions, three times in grand slams and one time at Wimbledon, with Bellucci never being able to win a set against Nadal.
The last time they faced off was earlier this year in Rio de Janeiro, with Nadal winning 6-4, 6-1. Their meeting at Wimbledon came in the first round of the 2012 tournament with Nadal winning the first set in a tiebreaker and then only dropping five games for the rest of the match.
Prediction: Nadal is obviously the massive favourite to take out a win here and its hard to see how he won’t, however it might be closer than a lot of people think. Bellucci should at least be able to win his first ever set against Nadal in his fifth attempt.
Nadal in four sets
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