It seldom happens that a tennis player has an edge or advantage above one of the Big Three players. But in the case of Milos Raonic over Rafael Nadal at the Indian Wells Masters, it is true. Nadal has an 8-2 win record in head-to-head with Milos Raonic. But of the 2 losses, 1 was the only time they met before at the Indian Wells.
This was in 2015 when Nadal lost his quarter-final bout to Raonic. Raonic won the match after being down 4-6 in the first set. He won the next set in a thrilling tie-breaker of 7-6 (12-10), and then finally won the last set 7-5. He, however, lost to Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Novak Djokovic defeated Federer subsequently in the final to win the title.
And now Rafael Nadal will be playing Milos Raonic in the first-round match of the 2024 Indian Wells. Will this give Milos Raonic a psychological advantage? Or will Rafael Nadal prevail as he has countless times in the past, squashing the hopes and expectations of his opponents.
Rafael Nadal is finally marking his return to professional after skipping several tournaments and sitting out for many months. Entering via the ‘Protected Ranking’ system, Rafael Nadal will be playing the Indian Wells, as the California-based tournament paid tribute to the Spaniard a few weeks ago.
Not only Nadal, but Raonic too entered the tournament via the ‘Protected Ranking’ system. Besides them, Denis Shapovalov of Canada also will be playing due to the same system. Rafael Nadal suffered from a micro hip tear and its effects for the longest period. Although he returns only after being truly fit, Raonic must still be sensing some vulnerability in his far-greater opponent and will try to exploit it.
Rafael Nadal will still back himself to win his first round match
No one wins 22 Grand Slams without being the absolute best in the world, and knowing the better of his opponents. Rafael Nadal, at age 37, and despite being back from injury, will still fancy himself to defeat Milos Raonic. This is simply because of the numerous tricks he has up his sleeve and his ability to get the better of Raonic, as he has done 8 other times in the past.
More importantly, something that can come in handy for Nadal is Raonic being perhaps more injury-prone than him. Milos Raonic’s last tournament i.e. Rotterdam Open 2024 was going well until an injury ruled him out. In the quarter-finals against Jannik Sinner, the score was 6-7 (4-7), 1-1, before Sinner got a walkover. This happened right after his Australian Open 2024 first-round loss to Alex de Minaur, where the score was 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 0-2. And then Raonic’s injury paved the way for de Minaur’s walkover.
It is quite a peculiar aspect that is becoming a norm with Milos Raonic, something that might come in handy for Rafael Nadal. However, Rafael Nadal will simply be focusing on his game and will look to defeat Raonic in a complete match.
