Less than 90 minutes after the men’s draw was announced at the BNP Paribas Open, the ATP had already updated its head-to-head landing page to feature Rafael Nadal and Milos Raonic. It’s a unique occurrence where players ranked world No. 652 and world No. 224 are given top billing at the URL, or even appear there at all.
They’ll share the spotlight again on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as they face off in Nadal’s first match since the early season tournament in Brisbane.
Nadal holds a 7-2 record against Raonic, although the page indicates it as 8-2, considering their round-robin encounter at the 2019 Laver Cup. Their last meeting was in the 2017 Australian Open quarterfinals.
Raonic secured victories in the 2017 Brisbane quarterfinals and, notably, at Indian Wells in the 2015 quarters. Nadal has emerged victorious in every other match, all contested on hard courts except one on clay, dating back to the 2010 Tokyo round of 16.
They have never faced each other before that stage in any tournament.
