REVEALED! Rafael Nadal’s potential path to claim his 4th Indian Wells Title

REVEALED! Rafael Nadal’s potential path to claim his 4th Indian Wells Title

Rafael Nadal at the 2013 Indian Wells Masters

Rafael Nadal has been and will always be a legendary player who has given justice to the sport over and over again, displaying his incredible and unique style of play, amazing everyone who witnesses it. This year, the Spaniard has uplifted his reputation and has been considered the best player in this season because of his epic comeback in the 2022 Australian Open.

Tough draw for Rafal Nadal

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

As the fourth seed, Nadal will be freed from the first round with a ‘Bye.’ Moving on to the second round, Nadal is likely to take on Sebastian Korda in the second round. The American hasn’t performed exceptionally well, but he made it till the third round of the Australian Open and the Quarterfinals of the Delray Beach Open. The two players have previously competed in the 2020 French Open, where Nadal emerged victorious in three sets.

Dan Evans will probably be the 21-time grand slam champion’s third-round opponent if he makes it past his previous match. Nadal faced Evans once before in the 2019 Canadian Open, with Nadal taking the lead in straight sets. The Britisher’s highest performance till now is in the Sydney International tournament, where he made it till the semifinals but lost to Aslan Karatsev in a tough three-setter.

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In the fourth round, the chances of Nadal facing the Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov are the highest. Though Shapovalov hasn’t won any titles this year, he came pretty close. In the Australian Open and the Qatar Open, the Canadian got eliminated in the quarterfinals. He lost to Jiří Veselý in the Dubai Tennis Championship semifinals.

Rafael Nadal in the Top 8

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

If Rafael Nadal can make it past the first four rounds, he will probably lock heads with either Casper Ruud or Jannik Sinner. Nadal has never played against Ruud, so their match would be an interesting one. However, the Spaniard has faced off three times before with Sinner, with Nadal winning all three matches.

Next up, in a possible occurrence of Nadal being in the semifinals, he will face current World No. 1, Daniil Medvedev. The Russian was so close to winning a title twice. First in the Australian Open finals against Nadal and the Mexican Open, again against the Spaniard.

Last but not least, If Nadal can make it to the last round, he will face one out of two; Alexander Zverev or Andrey Rublev.

Rafael Nadal’s path to the 2022 BNP Paribas Open title (based on the seedings):

  • R1 Bye
  • R2 Sebastian Korda
  • R3 Dan Evans
  • R4 Denis Shapovalov/ Reilly Opelka
  • QF Casper Ruud/ Jannik Sinner
  • SF Daniil Medvedev
  • F Alexander Zverev

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