‘Rafael Nadal was already one of the best in the world’, says top coach

Rafael Nadal was unable to overcome the Felix Auger-Aliassime obstacle and suffered his second consecutive defeat at the ATP Finals in Turin. The Spanish champion’s path in the Green Group has therefore become even more complicated and the hopes of gaining access to the semi-finals are now rather low. The Majorcan must first and foremost cheer on Taylor Fritz tonight. The American will have to beat Casper Ruud in two sets in order to allow Nadal not to take the field without any qualifying goal next Thursday. The Spaniard will then need a clear victory against Ruud and a further positive result in the challenge that will involve Fritz and Auger-Aliassime. Nadal does not give up: “I will die to reach my level”. I lost a horrible game at 4-3. I fought until the end, but when things go like this, it’s hard to change the dynamics of the result. Playing against the big servers on this surface… He played the important points better ”, explained Nadal at the press conference. “I just have to accept this situation. When you’re forced to go through everything I’ve been through in the past six months, just being here is a good thing. This doesn’t mean I’m not sad about the results. It can happen. No? I went through a very tough month. I just have to accept that my new season will start tomorrow. I can only continue to work and do the things I need to give myself a chance to start 2023 well. Positives? I’ve managed to play two tournaments in the past three weeks; which I have not been able to do before. I don’t think he has forgotten how to play tennis, how to be mentally strong on the court. I need to recover all those positive feelings.”

Moya speaks about Nadal

Carlos Moya said that Rafael Nadal did not strike him as being more gifted than other players his age when he met him for the first time. “This one’s going to be good. By the age of twelve he was already one of the best in the world in his category. That was when I met him for the first time,” Moya said. “He asked me if I’d warm up with him. I did, for about an hour. Now, to be honest, he did not strike me as being singularly more gifted than other players of his age. I did see he was very combative, though what was more surprising was how incredibly shy he also was. We met and shook hands, but he didn’t even look at me and uttered barely a syllable,” Moya said.