Rafael Nadal, who lost to Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, 4-6, 7-6 (10), 7-5, says he is unsure whether the Canadian will be able to consistently defeat members the so-called Big Four. The world No. 6 saved three match points in his win over the Spaniard and is now 5-20 against Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray.
“I think we'll see at the end of the year, because is obvious that with that serve, at one match you can beat against everybody serving like this,” Nadal said. “It's obvious Milos going on court can win against every player of the tour, because with that serve, if he serves well you know that you gonna be in the tiebreak. So those are the things that are deciding in just a few balls. So let's see. He's young. It's the normal thing, normal process. He will keep going up on the ranking and will be more consistent.”
Nadal says that Raonic has a chance against Roger Federer in the semifinals at Indian Wells, but he believes that the 24-year-old is the underdog.
“I saw Roger playing very well today,” Nadal said. “The difference on that match is even if I only lost one serve during the whole match and didn't have a lot of opportunities to have, he didn't have a lot of opportunities to have break on my serve.
“Bigger difference with Roger, especially in that surface, is he has a great serve, too. The opponent feels that. Milos felt that can attack sometimes with my serve. Against Roger, he probably will not have that chance, because Roger is serving well. The feeling, comparing the two players, is Roger probably will have the same chances of returning serve than Milos.”