{"id":62467,"date":"2024-01-04T11:21:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T16:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=62467"},"modified":"2024-01-04T11:21:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T16:21:10","slug":"atp-brisbane-quarterfinal-prediction-nadal-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/01\/04\/atp-brisbane-quarterfinal-prediction-nadal-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"ATP Brisbane Quarterfinal Prediction Including Rafael Nadal vs Jordan Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Though the off-season was incredibly short, tennis fans around the world were eager to see the ATP Tour back up and running in Brisbane&#8230; Why? For <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2024\/01\/01\/ten-things-to-look-forward-to-in-tennis-in-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the return of 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal<\/a>, of course! We\u2019ve tried to predict whether he\u2019ll sustain his comeback form against Jordan Thompson in the quarterfinals, along with three other matches including Grigor Dimitrov, Holger Rune, and Matteo Arnaldi.<\/p>\n<h2>ATP Brisbane Quarterfinal Prediction<\/h2>\n<h4>Grigor Dimitrov vs Rinky Hijikata<\/h4>\n<p>Grigor Dimitrov has picked up right where he left off in 2023. He came through a tricky first round in Murray before dispatching Altmaier for the loss of only three games.<\/p>\n<p>Rinky Hijikata could be troublesome if the Bulgarian is feeling off his game\u2014but why should he be under the reassuring guidance of Dani Vallverdu? We\u2019ve got a decent amount of faith that 2024 is going to be a good year for Dimitrov.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Dimitrov in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Holger Rune vs James Duckworth<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2023\/12\/20\/holger-rune-2023-season-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Holger Rune<\/a> will be very pleased to have come through his first two rounds against Purcell and Shevchenko. He\u2019s not always a player that hits the ground running \u2014 he has a worse winning percentage in ATP first rounds than he does in quarterfinals or semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>Now that he\u2019s settled into the tournament, James Duckworth shouldn\u2019t prove too difficult a quarterfinalist. This is the Aussie\u2019s ninth ATP quarterfinal in 13 years on the tour\u2014he\u2019s bound to be feeling a bit nervy, potentially giving the Dane free reign to dominate proceedings.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Rune in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"tGsPnB7_Tv5DT3GE4lwJYQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1904349923\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'tGsPnB7_Tv5DT3GE4lwJYQ',sig:'mqJTYcPIcsSQhXv4pEr-MotYbdcKdg7Ajs9nKLEnEwM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1904349923',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Roman Safiullin vs Matteo Arnaldi<\/h4>\n<p>This feels like an even match-up on all accounts. Safiullin and Arnaldi are similarly ranked, possess offensive games centred around their huge forehands, have come through two very tight first rounds, and are both in the ascendancy in their form.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst Arnaldi perhaps looks the more likely of the two to sustain his peaks, one difference might be the slight question marks around his fitness. Has the off-season been fruitful or has he made little physical improvement? Backed by the extensive resources of the Italian Tennis Federation, we\u2019re willing to bet Arnaldi has put in the work required to keep this sort of form up.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Arnaldi in 3<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"TgqtDKW5SbF6K5D2RWgorA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1686713889\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'TgqtDKW5SbF6K5D2RWgorA',sig:'qdTEUms5oq70AAK4yJjlBCWWSvS94bOAINZSBZJZdTY=',w:'594px',h:'372px',items:'1686713889',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Rafael Nadal vs Jordan Thompson<\/h4>\n<p>Rafael Nadal is back. Whilst his first two opponents in Thiem and Kubler may not be the sternest of opposition, it\u2019s immediately clear watching the Spaniard that:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The serve isn\u2019t being hampered by any injuries.<\/li>\n<li>B. Nadal\u2019s footwork and power are as efficient as they\u2019ve ever been.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Jordan Thompson will be able to keep the match a little tighter with bigger weapons in his arsenal. At the end of the day though, we\u2019ve no reason to doubt Nadal\u2019s forehand trumps 90% of the tour, even on an average day.<br \/>\n<em>Prediction: Nadal in 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Though the off-season was incredibly short, tennis fans around the world were eager to see the ATP Tour back up and running in Brisbane&#8230; Why? For the return of 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, of course! We\u2019ve tried to predict whether he\u2019ll sustain his comeback form against Jordan Thompson in the quarterfinals, along with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3704,"featured_media":62352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[4089,411,15683,7605,16281,4366,15988,1661,15493,17610,17611,135,15412,17113,17114,9583,15933,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-62467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-atp-brisbane-predictions","tag-grigor-dimitrov","tag-grigor-dimitrov-predictions","tag-holger-rune","tag-holger-rune-predictions","tag-james-duckworth","tag-james-duckworth-predictions","tag-jordan-thompson","tag-jordan-thompson-predictions","tag-matteo-arnaldi","tag-matteo-arnaldi-predictions","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-rafael-nadal-predictions","tag-rinky-hijikata","tag-rinky-hijikata-predictions","tag-roman-safiullin","tag-roman-safiullin-predictions","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3704"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}