ATP Finals: Nadal greeted Turin with a victory and is already aiming for his performance in Buenos Aires

Rafael Nadal It didn’t have the performance it was expecting Turin ATP Finalsto which he had arrived as a first seed and with the illusion of adding his first title of “Teacher”. The Spaniard lost his first two games against the American Taylor Fritz debut and against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in his second presentation – and reached the last day of Green Group with no possibility of advancing to the semi-finals. But in his farewell he had the pleasure of beating the Norwegian Casper Ruudto end the year with a smile.

“Of course, I can’t be satisfied with my performance in the tournamentbut ending the season with a win is always positive”, summed up the Spaniard, after winning a double 7-5 against Ruud, who had secured his ticket for the next round in advance.

“It was my first experience in Turin, a beautiful city, and I would like to go back next year,” he added. “And this was also my first victory as a dad“, he commented with a smile.

Raf, number two in the standings, not only missed the chance to add his first title in last season’s race. He also missed an opportunity to displace his compatriot from above Carlos Alcarazabsent in Turin due to an abdominal injury sustained at the Masters 1000 in Paris.

It took Nadal an hour and 44 minutes to beat the Norwegian, he said goodbye by thanking the audience who cheered him at the Pala Alpitour in Turin and acknowledged: “This hasn’t been a perfect week, but I’ll work hard to come back next year next. “

“My goal is to reach my best version next season”, anticipated who was champion in Australia and Roland Garros this year, conquests that allowed him to reach 22 Grand Slam titles, a category in which he is the top winner .

The Spaniard thus closed his official season, given that he will not be in the Finals next week Davis Cup In Malaga. Instead, he will embark on a tour of Latin America, which will take him to Argentina: next Wednesday he will play an exhibition in Buenos Aires with Ruud, Gabriel Sabatini Y Gisela Dulko.

Raf He also celebrated, before saying goodbye to Turin, the news that Novak Djokovicone of its classic rivals, will be able to play again next year in the Australian Openafter missing the 2022 edition due to his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

“That Novak can play again in Australia is the best news, especially since today the virus is apparently under control in the world. What happened this year was not good for our sport, but it passed” , he said. the Spanish.

“I’ve always thought that tennis is more beautiful when the best come out on the court and this makes me happy Freight can play in Melbourne. I’m happy for him, for the tournament and for the fans,” she added.

The Green Group’s action will continue with the duel between Auger-Aliassime and Fritz, who will define the other semi-finalist in this area at the end of this Thursday. Both the American and Canadian have 1-1 records.

alongside red groupwhich will close this Friday, Djokovic has already secured his presence in the semifinals (with the victory against Andrei Rublev Wednesday), while Daniel Medvedev it has already been removed. The Serbian and the Russian will clash on the final day, while Stephen Tsitsipas and Rublev the second playoff ticket will be played hand-in-hand.

In the doubles tournament they had already been eliminated Horace Zeballos and the Spanish Marcel Granollerswho suffered a third defeat in as many appearances against the Finn Harri Eliovaara and the British Lloyd Glasspoolwinners 6-0 and 6-4 in the Red Group.

With information from ANSA