By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Defeat doesn’t dent Rafael Nadal’s defiant willpower.
Felix Auger-Aliassime swept Nadal 6-3, 6-4 scoring his first win over the king of clay on the ATP Finals in Turin—and dealing a death-knell to the Spaniard’s shot of securing the year-end prime spot.
More: Auger-Aliassime Sweeps Nadal
Nadal’s loss, adopted by Casper Ruud profitable the opening set towards Taylor Fritz in tonight’s second Red Group round-robin match, ensured 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz will conclude the season because the youngest-ever ATP year-end world No. 1.
“Winning two slams was not enough,” mentioned Nadal, a five-time, year-end world No. 1. “Of course, was not enough because I was not able to play. I don’t know how many tournaments I played, 10, 11, maybe 12. Finished maybe nine, 10, in good conditions.
“It’s troublesome evaluating and preventing towards the younger guys that they’re tremendous good, and on the identical time they can play as many tournaments as they need, no? Is regular they’re within the state of affairs I used to be, like, 15 years in the past. Just effectively executed for Carlos on this case. Happy for him. Big achievement for him. Well executed.”
The second-ranked Spaniard, who opened the season on a 21-match winning streak, suffered his fourth consecutive loss today with all four losses coming against North American opponents.
It’s the first time Nadal has lost four matches in a row since 2009 when he bowed to Novak Djokovic (twice), Robin Soderling and Nikolay Davydenko.
This losing streak sparked a comeback vow in Nadal, who told the media in Turin he is going to die trying to regain his level.
“I imply, I do not assume I overlook find out how to play tennis, find out how to be robust sufficient mentally,” Nadal said. “I simply have to get well all these constructive emotions and all this confidence and all this robust mentality that I should be on the degree that I need to be.
“And I don’t know if I going to reach that level again. But what I don’t have any doubt, that I going to die for it.”
It’s been a life-changing season for Nadal, who grew to become a first-time father final month.
Now, the 22-time Gand Slam king is decided to make a giant bounce again down underneath the place Nadal shall be defending his Australian Open title in January.
Nadal says he’ll reply with the identical strategy that is served him so effectively all through his legendary profession: keep hungry, keep humble and settle for the struggling to gasoline his aggressive comeback.
“What can happen in Australia? I don’t know. Remain a month and a half [from now],” Nadal mentioned. “What can I do to give myself a positive chances to have a good season next year?
“As at all times, be humble sufficient to simply accept that I’ve a problem in entrance, that the final six months have been very troublesome for me, and I have to work extra and I have to get well issues that I misplaced as a result of I used to be not in a position to observe the right method, I used to be not in a position to compete the right method.
“What I have to do now is come back, work hard, stay positive every single day, accept the challenge, accept that I going to need to suffer a little bit more. If I will be ready to go through all this process, we going to know in a couple of months I have the determination going through that.”
Photo credit score: Marco Bertorello/Getty