20:34
Fritz most recently with overall victory at the Japan Open
It is clear that at least the 25-year-old American Taylor Fritz will be in good form in the game. After all, the player from San Diego just won the Japan Open in Tokyo in October and secured only the fourth singles title of his career at this tournament. With this triumph, Fritz climbed to ninth place in the ATP world rankings and, due to the injury to Carlos Alcaraz, qualified as the eighth and last man for the ATP Finals for the first time in his career.
20:26
Only six more singles in the second half of the season
As is well known, Rafael Nadal had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury after winning the Wimbledon quarterfinals against Fritz. In the period that followed, the 36-year-old only played in three tournaments and only played six singles games in the second half of the season, of which he lost three games. Accordingly, one can be curious about the form in which the second in the world rankings presents itself in today’s opening game.
20:18
Recently two hard fights against Fritz
The new father Rafael Nadal bumps into Taylor Fritz for the third time in the calendar year 2022 and the first two times it was extremely hot. First of all, the American surprised the entire tennis world when he was able to assert himself in the final of the Indian Wells Masters against the Spaniard, who was still undefeated in 2022, 2-0 (6: 3 and 7: 6) and the Manacor bull the first defeat after 20 individual wins in a row. And then both athletes danced the full distance of five sets in the quarter-finals of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, when Nadal again prevailed 3-2.
20:12
Lot luck for the bull of Manacor
Due to the injury to world number one Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal went into the final tournament in Turin as number one on the seed list. It was clear that he would avoid Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round robin. However, it was not clear whether he would face a heavyweight with Novak Djokovic and/or Daniil Medvedev in the preliminary round. However, the Spaniard avoided both lots. Instead, with Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud and Félix Auger-Aliassime, he was faced with three fundamentally feasible opponents.
20:06
Nadal still without a title at the finals
When you think of Rafael Nadal, you think of an athlete who has achieved practically everything. The now 36-year-old Spaniard has already won 22 Grand Slam titles in singles – including two in the current year. In addition, there is the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games and 36 other major titles at Masters tournaments. What the Manacor bull is actually missing is the overall victory at the ATP Finals. He lost the only two finals that Nadal reached at the unofficial World Cup (in 2010 and 2013).
20:00
Welcome to the ATP Finals!
Good evening and welcome from the Pala Alpitour in Turin. The first day of the ATP Finals 2022 will take place here today. After Casper Ruud won 2-0 against Félix Auger-Aliassime in the green group this afternoon, superstar Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz will meet in the second group game at 9:00 p.m.