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Like never before, Rafael Nadal only played six tournaments before the Premium ATP Finals to save energy and see the title he is missing! Nadal has qualified for the 16th time in a row to the ATP Finals and is only participating in this tournament for the 10th time, having struggled with numerous injuries after the US Open over the years.
Rafa has never been a fan of indoor tennis and only won a tough ATP crown 15 years ago at his home in Madrid. The Spaniard lost two ATP finals to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in 2010 and 2013, never reaching the semi-finals after 2015 and trying to change that this week.
Tim Henman believes Rafa has a chance in London and heads to the UK capital rested to show off his best tennis at the last event of the season. On the opening night, Rafa overturned a Russian post and rookie Andrey Rublev 6: 3, 6: 4 in one hour and 17 minutes, bouncing back from the defeat in Paris by Alexander Zverev and starting with a victory.
Rafa played at a high level, lost 12 points in ten service games and never faced a break point. Returning Rublev’s services with aggression and off the field, the 20-time major winner broke the opponent once in each set for victory and added 200 points to his record.
Nadal dominated with his first shot and had 16 winners and 11 unforced errors. The Russian had 19 winners and 23 errors. Rafa faced a serve winner on almost 40% of all points in his games and built a wide 44:28 lead in the shorter rallies with up to four strokes.
Nadal got off to a good start with a winning serve before Rublev responded along the same lines to put his name on the scoreboard. The Spaniard won his serve without losing a point at 1-1, with another serve not returned, followed by an ace from Andrey that ended the score 2-2.
A forehand winner secured the Spaniard another comfortable service game in the fifth game and got the first break when the Russian made a forehand error a few minutes later to open a 4-2 gap.
Rafael Nadal got off to a successful start against Andrey Rublev in London
The world No. 2 scored three winners in the ninth game to finish the first set in 36 minutes. They played well and expected more of that in the second set.
With momentum on his side, Nadal made a break in the first game of the second set and won his service game after two with a winning service to open a 6-3, 2-0 lead. Andrey made a forehand error in Game 4 and found himself behind 3-1.
In the fifth game, he held a forehand to keep in touch. A service winner sent Nadal 4-2 ahead before Rublev brought home the seventh game to extend the fight. The Spaniard forced an opponent to make a mistake in game eight, forcing Rublev to stay in the game.
The youngster won his service game after one inning before Nadal won his service game with an unreturned serve to seal the deal and claim an opening victory. Nadal faces US Open champion Dominic Thiem in their second free-for-all game.
Andrey Rublev meets Stefanos Tsitsipas. “I think the reduced schedule helped Rafa. He hadn’t always played in the ATP Finals because his body was a bit bruised. But it looks like this year could be different.”
He has not played much tennis, but there is the confidence of the 13th Roland Garros title and the 20th major. He also played well indoors and won great titles. He’s been to the final of this event twice and he can do more than well, “said Tim Henman.
