You snooze, you lose in tennis. Just as I was beginning to write today’s preview, the match that may go down as the most entertainingly edgy of the week was finishing up in Basel. That’s where Rafael Nadal survived another bad-blooded encounter with Lukas Rosol.
As always, the Czech saved his best for the Spaniard: Rosol had lost 12 first-rounders in 2015, but he came out and dominated Nadal for the better part of two sets. Rafa was slow, tentative, and hitting short; as short as I've ever seen him hit, in fact. But he shook off the rust and nerves and maybe the jet lag just in time. Rosol served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, and led 4-2 in the third-set tiebreaker, but it was Rafa who came away with the win. It must have felt good. In the third set, Rosol complained about Nadal’s slow-playing ways, while Rafa complained about the way Rosol was banging his racquet on the court before every return of serve. Neither got anywhere with the chair umpire, but Rosol did get under Rafa's skin, and together they produced one of the few buzz-worthy matches, and handshakes, of the fall so far.