Juan Martin del Potro v Rafael Nadal Prediction & Betting Odds

Nadal to drop a set but prevail against Delpo

Tennis Betting

Juan Martin del Potro v Rafael Nadal preview – July 11th, 2018

The men’s draw at Wimbledon hits the quarter finals on Wednesday and the big guns of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic are all still firing along. This clash between Del Potro and Nadal is the highlight of the quarter final matches and if things go with seeding then it could bring about a Nadal v Djokovic semi-final and then a potential showdown against Federer in the Final.

But first things first and Wednesday’s meeting between these two should be very interesting. Nadal has made it through to the final eight without having dropped a set along the way and he will have a little bit of an advantage in this one as well over his opponent. That is simply because Nadal will have had an extra day of rest. So it has been plain sailing for Nadal so far as he goes in search of his third title at the event.

Nadal in high energy

His looking full of energy but he will get a tough game in this one against Del Potro who is the fifth seed. It’s no secret that this is Nadal’s least favourite surfacee and this is the first time that he has been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon since reaching the 2011 Final. We are definitely backing Nadal to drop a set in this one and therefore over 3.5 sets for 4/7 odds at bet365* (betting odds were taken from July 11th, 2018 at 2:45 am) makes a conservative start for our Juan Martin del Potro v Rafael Nadal prediction.

Interestingly Nadal has never before lost in either a quarter-final or a semi final match at Wimbledon, so he has that perfect strike rate of five from five in Wimbledon quarter-finals. Overall this is the 36th Grand Slam quarter-final of his career. Nadal is the current World Number One and has four titles to his name this season including yet another French Open crown recently. But he is facing a player who can bring the power and the pressure.

Is Del Potro physically ready?

Just back at the French Open this summer the Argentine suffered a semi-final defeat against Nadal and that, of course, can be excused. Del Potro came through the first three rounds easily enough without dropping a set but he did drop one against Gilles Simon in round four, a match which started on Monday and was finished on Tuesday because of poor light. The thing about that match though for Del Potro is that while he won 3-1 each of the three sets that he did win was on a tie-break.

So he was made to work hard and while he leans on his physical approach a lot, he was looking a bit tired towards the end of that. You don’t want any disadvantage going into a game against Nadal. This is just the second ever quarter-final place at Wimbledon for Del Potro, his previous coming in his 2013 run to the semi-finals. Other than that his track record at SW19 isn’t great. Del Potro is the current world number four and has earned two titles this season.

Head to Head

These two have met fifteen times before and Nadal is 10-5 ahead. As mentioned they met at Roland Garros this year and Nadal won easily in straight sets, dropping just the seven games. Just twice before have they met on grass and that first was at Queens back in 2007 with Nadal winning that one. Their other clash on grass was at Wimbledon 2011 with Nadal taking a 3-1 win in that one. Nadal has won six of the last eight meetings between the two players.

Del Potro v Nadal Prediction

We have to stick with Nadal given the form that he has carried this season. He has been managing his season well and didn’t push himself ahead of Wimbledon which is clearly paying off at the moment. Del Potro’s game against Simon on Monday/Tuesday seemed to be wearing the Argentine down and we are rolling with Nadal 3-1 in set betting for 11/4 odds* (betting odds were taken from July 11th, 2018 at 2:45 am) as we see him dropping a set early in this contest when Del Potro will come out strong and attack.