Rafael Nadal says goodbye to the ATP Finals with a win: The Spaniard, who is at war with the annual accounts of the best tennis professionals, defeats group winner Casper Ruud after two previous defeats. However, the early end is already certain.
Rafael Nadal celebrated his first win in his last group game at the ATP finals. The Spaniard won in Turin against the Norwegian Casper Ruud 7: 5, 7: 5. However, after his two opening defeats, Nadal had no chance of making it into the semi-finals and was eliminated after the preliminary round despite the success. After two victories, Ruud was already a semi-finalist at the end of the season of the eight best tennis professionals of the year before the new edition of the French Open final.
Nadal was satisfied with his year after the Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and French Open despite protracted injury problems. "I had a difficult six months in 2022, two Grand Slams and a good finish in the world rankings, so I can't complain," said the 36-year-old. In the coming year it will be about "starting the season with the right energy, the right attitude in order to reach a high level right from the start."
The ATP Finals are not a good place for Nadal, one of the most successful tennis professionals in history: The Spaniard, Grand Slam record champion and 92-time tournament winner on the ATP tour, has never triumphed at the season finale. Twice - in 2010 and 2012 - he reached the final of the tournament, which was worth around 14 million euros this year, but lost to the big competitors of his era: in 2010 against Roger Feder, two years later against Novak Djokovic.
"I don't think I've forgotten how to play tennis and how to be mentally strong," the 36-year-old said on Tuesday after his second loss in the group against Canadian Felix Auger-Alliasime. At the moment, however, he lacks self-confidence. He himself does not know exactly whether he will reach his absolute top level again, "but I have no doubt that I would die for it".
Alongside Ruud, Taylor Fritz from the green group made it to the semifinals. The American defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 2 in the "group final" for the semi-finals and now meets the five-time winner Novak Djokovic from Serbia . Both Fritz and Auger-Aliassime had each previously won a match and lost one. Fritz had only come into the field as a substitute for the injured world number one Carlos Alcaraz. In the green group, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are also fighting in a direct duel today, Friday, for the last remaining ticket for the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP finals.
