Rafael Nadal enters Thursday's action at London's Queen's Club with an undefeated record against his opponent, Radek Stepanek.
Rafael Nadal and Radek Stepanek are scheduled to meet in the third round of the grass court tournament at London's Queen's Club on Thursday. Nadal enters the match as a heavy favorite
(20/1 bet365) and part of the reason for that is that the reigning Wimbledon champion has defeated Stepanek
(8/1 bet365) in all four of their previous matches.
The two players have not met on tour since 2005 and that is somewhat surprising especially since Stepanek, now 32 years old, has spent time in the top 10 since then. You'd think that they might have bumped into one another just one time in six years but their last match was back on the hard courts of Madrid, a match Nadal took down with a straight sets victory.
The pair, whether recently or historically, have never faced one another on grass and Stepanek is a good enough player to beat Nadal on that surface if the world number one is below standard. Stepanek has made the Wimbledon quarterfinals before and the last time he contested a draw at the All England Club he took Lleyton Hewitt to a fifth set in a fourth round match.
Nadal, fresh off of his title at Roland Garros, has played a ton of tennis lately and he might not be all that ambitious in the Queen's Club draw. If fatigue is at all a factor, Nadal could be upset prone in this match keeping in mind that Rafa stumbled at the AEGON Championships to Feliciano Lopez last year.
Nadal and Stepanek are on the Order of Play for Thursday, the third match of the day with the court starting at 12:30pm (London time). The match is probably closer than what the odds imply just because Nadal has to be tired heading into the contest following seven matches from Roland Garros and one match already from Queen's.
