Rafa Nadal bid farewell with a brilliant victory and 16 aces

“The 2023 season starts tomorrow,” he said Rafael Nadal after his elimination from the ATP Finals in Turin was sentenced after losing to Felix Auger-Aliassime, adding his fourth straight loss on the circuit. There is no negative record of five. With a positive mindset and enthusiasm, she broke the bad streak and gave herself a boost of motivation and confidence for January, when the australia tomorrow, that he will prepare from the beginning of the month, arguing with the new one united cupleading the Spanish mixed team with Paula Badosa.

Nadal, 36 years old and world number 2, said goodbye smartly to an extraordinary season, due to interruptions caused by injuries, but also successfully considering the Australian Open and Roland Garros caught. He remembered the man from Melbourne and Paris rather than the lost and faithless tennis player from his first two matches at the Pala Alpitour in Turin.

He beat the Norwegian 7-5 and 7-5 in 1h.42′ Casper Ruud23 years old and No. 4, who took the leadership of the Green Group, in the semifinals on Saturday against Stefanos Tsitsipas or Andrey Rublev. This factor is not in favor of the Nordic, or his passion for Nadal, the membership of his academy, or the series that never won the world top-3.

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All shot for Nadal, who got it 16 ‘aces’, like a ‘gunboat’. He passed his twenties, but in a Grand Slam match, with more partials and on grass. Turin put together some very fast playing conditions, which this time manacorí exploited to his advantage, accumulating 38 winnersagainst 16 unforced errors.

He has more adaptation days and is more comfortable with the opponent’s playing style. Nadal had more time to return the ball, as well as immediately gaining speed because there were more exchanges. And, especially, he is more inspired. He believed in himself more.

He faced a serious problem with two break balls against 4-4. He overcame them decisively. He served well and quickly launched to close at the net. In addition, his right returned to be a striper.

Just when the set seemed destined for a tiebreak finish, Ruud broke through. Three errors lead to a break, blank, for Nadal. And set, 7-5 in 55 minutes.

A game with ‘aces’

A treasure for Nadal. It was definitely released. He chained three white games on his serve. He won one game, the ninth, with aces, scoring four at a time.

The story repeated itself at 6-5 Nadal. Ruud hesitated, a more toned Rafa never forgave him. Close the blind of 2022, 39 wins and 8 losses, four titles, the record of 22 Grand Slams. Much more to say. The illusion is complete.

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He had to meet again the victory Nadal, who also got 200 ranking points, when Ruud himself and Tsitsipas could grab the second place in the classification, and the 383,300 dollars, which he added to the 320,000 fixed. total, $403,300, about 400,000 euros. And his first victory after fatherhood in October.

In the next few days he will share a trip with Casper Ruud, where he will be able to play some exhibition matches in Latin America. In the ATP, Rafa is 2-0, having defeated the Norwegian in the Roland Garos final 6-3, 6-3 and 6-0.

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