On Day 5 of Roland Garros, we see many enticing and electrifying match ups that could build into memorable and historic matches in years to come, but one of the biggest headlines from tomorrow will be whether Rafael Nadal can continue his outstanding form from Round One against Sam Groth of Australia.
Facundo Bagnis Can Trouble Rafael Nadal
Nadal was in scintillating form as he won with the loss of just three games against the big serving Australian, who’s having a horrendous year on all fronts. Nadal continues his relentless pursuit for “La Decima” as he stands on opposite sides of the net with Facundo Bagnis.
Who is Facundo Bagnis? Bagnis is an Argentinian left-handed clay courter, who predominantly plays his entire schedule on the outdoor clay courts, particularly on the Challenger circuit. The interesting talking point of this second round match up is the significance that Bagnis understands the dimensions and characteristics of a clay court, but the main flaw to Bagnis’s resume is his inability to translate great, positive results on the Challenger tour to the ATP level. Bagnis earned his career high ranking of #89 in the world a few months ago, mainly through picking up good Challenger wins and title victories on the red dirt in South America, which suggests he’s battle-ready for the match of his life tomorrow against the King of Clay Rafael Nadal.
Does Facundo Bagnis stand a chance against arguably the greatest clay court player of all time? Bagnis is going to have to play the percentages well. We may be seeing a lot of forehand to forehand rallies, while Bagnis will be aware of the consistency of Nadal’s backhand, particularly in comparison to the regression we’ve seen from the forehand side of Nadal. The best option is to avoid the forehand down the line shot to Nadal’s backhand as in most cases it leaves a gaping court open for Nadal to strike his backhand cross court into. Bagnis essentially has to play a comfortably forehand to forehand rally cross court at the lowest point of the net, then with patience attack the backhand at the right moments. After all, Bagnis isn’t going to win a clay-court match against Nadal with conservative groundstrokes throughout. He’s going to have to be extremely and persistently positive and aggressive. As many tennis fans witnessed in Andy Murray’s Round 2 win against Mathias Bourgue, Bourgue played his best tennis when he was striking the ball with authority and asking questions to the second best player in the world. Giving the best players in the world less time to think and find solutions ultimately puts them on the back foot, and that’s something that Facundo Bagnis will have to try and activate in his Round 2 tomorrow.
It’s a completely different match for Nadal compared to his first round, as Groth loathes the clay whereas Bagnis will feel content with competing on this surface. The next question is whether Bagnis has the belief and confidence to make this a competitive match with one of the very best. Can Bagnis pull off the upset? In a Best of 5 against the best on clay? That’s a stretch, but it’ll be intriguing and interesting just how he works out how to topple Nadal in Paris tomorrow afternoon.
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