Rafael Nadal is with a bitter bankruptcy in the ATP Finals started in Turin. But even more disappointing than the defeat is the realization that the Spaniard wasn’t competitive.
Rafael Nadal was visibly trying to keep a neutral face. But the inner pain, the great disappointment about the clear defeat (6: 7; 1: 6) in the opening match of the ATP Finals in Turin against the American Taylor Fritz could not be overlooked.
Because it wasn’t just a mean bankruptcy that can happen to any top player. Nadal, who was one of the few tournaments on the tour who has never won the finals, was almost pressed against the imaginary wall by Fritz with his hammer-hard punches. There were also a number of minor errors. “The problem was that I was mostly on the defensive and he was on the offensive”said Nadal afterwards.
Probably every part of the body affected
Especially in the second set, the Spaniard had no answer to the powerful game of the 25-year-old. “During training, it seemed like I was competitive”said Nadal. “But competitions are something else.” It was obvious that he had nothing to counter Taylor’s enduring power. He of all people, whose irrepressible strength and willpower had brought opponents to their knees in the past. Hardly anything seemed to be left of it.
In recent weeks and months, the 36-year-old has repeatedly been thrown out of the race by injuries. Torn abs, his chronic foot problems and a pinch here, a pinch there have prevented regular competition. “A lot has happened in the last five months”said Nadal. He lacks the match practice to be able to assert himself against players of Fritz’s quality. “Everything in tennis is about time. I had less than him.”
Nadal has had so many injuries and bruises in his career that almost every part of his body has been affected at some point. The difference to earlier times, however, is that he is now running away from this much-needed time – for recovery and rehabilitation, but also to prepare for the tasks ahead.
Against shooting star Felix Auger-Aliassime
Each subsequent injury is likely to increase the time it takes for him to regain his competitive edge at the advanced age of a professional tennis player. Just as Roger Federer (41) recently lost the long inner struggle against his own body and ended his career, there are more and more signs that Nadal has long since entered this very private competition with himself.
The question will be how long he can continue to feel and nourish the fire that has always burned so intensely within him and has always driven him. On Tuesday (2 p.m.) the Spaniard will play against one of the rising stars of this season in the second group game. The Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who also lost his opening match against the Norwegian Casper Ruud (6:7, 4:6), plays similarly offensive and powerful as Fritz. “The loser goes out of the tournament”said Nadal.