It wasn’t the end of the tennis year that Rafael Nadal wanted. Nevertheless, he leaves with a sense of achievement.
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. Next year it’s about “starting the season with the right energy, the right attitude to reach a high level right from the start.”
Alongside Ruud, Taylor Fritz from the green group made it to the semifinals. The American defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 2 on Friday night and now meets the five-time winner Novak Djokovic from Serbia.
Source: Stern
