By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, November 15, 2019
World No. 1 Rafael Nadal edged Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 to keep his shot for his first ATP Finals semifinal appearance since 2015 alive.
Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty
As the youngest man to score career wins over Big 3 champions Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, Stefanos Tsitsipas knows what it takes to topple an icon.
Tsitsipas calls Nadal the toughest of the Big 3 to beat.
More: Nadal Locks Down Year-End No. 1 Ranking
Today, a spirited Nadal showed no surrender keeping his ATP Finals hope alive in London.
Nadal did not face a break point in a 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Tsitsipas that kept the top-seeded Spaniard's hope of qualifying for Saturday's semifinals alive.
It's the first ATP Finals match of Nadal's career where he did not face a break point.
Now, the world No. 1 becomes the world's most interested viewer of the final round-robin match with his hopes of advancing hanging in the balance though Nadal says he's not sure he will watch.
"I'm not sure if I going to watch the match or not. I don't know," Nadal said. "The only thing that is sure is I have to be ready for anything, so I think I did my work and I did it well.
"Happy for the victory. Then now I have to wait. So I'm not sure if I go for dinner with the family, because will be around 8:00 is the moment is to go for dinner, especially because I have to do the things like if I am playing tomorrow at 2:00. So then if I don't play, fine, but I have to be ready for it just in case."
If Daniil Medvedev defeats defending champion Alexander Zverev in today's final round-robin match, Nadal will advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2015 and continue his quest for his first ATP finals crown.
The seventh-seeded Zverev, who owns a 4-1 record over Medvedev, has a straight-forward task: win and he's in.
Knowing his semifinal spot was secure, Tsitsipas said he saved some energy in today's round-robin match.
"I came very close, and I would say I did leave something in the tank. I didn't really go full, full," Tsitsipas said. "I could have gone even more full than that, but I'm not disappointed by that. I wanted to win but probably wasn't willing to die on the court for that.
"But despite that, things went well, really well. My main focus is doing well in the semifinals more than this match. But again, I wanted to win, so, yeah."
The 33-year-old Nadal took the court a day after making history clinching the year-end top-spot for the fifth time and becoming the oldest year-end world No. 1 in ATP history.
How would the US Open champion's legs hold up after he battled back from a 1-5 deficit in the final set and saved a match point fighting off Medvedev on Wednesday?
An energetic Nadal looked eager and was efficient at net throught this must-win match.
The youngest man to score victories over the Big 3 played a perfect serve-and-volley working through a deuce hold in his opening service game.
The 12-time Roland Garros champion was effective sliding his serve to set up his twisting topspin forehand. He won 85 percent of his first-serve points and did not face a break point. Nadal rolled through a love hold for 4-3.
Deadlocked at 4-all, Nadal showed forward thinking and fast hands. The top seed fended off a body blow with a stab volley then spiked a smash battling back from love-15 down to hold in the ninth game.
"I am serving better. So when I am serving better, I am able to go more times to the net, no?" Nadal said. "That's what I am doing. You need to be confident. You need to be quick out there, but if you go more often, then you are quicker because you see better the things. And I think I am doing quite well."
The sixth-ranked Greek bolted his fourth ace off the center stripe to force the first-set tie break.
The 21-year-old Tsitsipas leads the ATP in tie break wins this season (32-12) and used both timely strikes and a couple of forehand errors from his opponent to take charge of this breaker.
Nadal netted a mid-court sitter and compounded that error sending a backhand sailing. The Spaniard's 14th unforced error of the set gave Tsitsipas a 4-2 lead. Nadal leveled it, but netted a backhand crosscourt.
On the attack, Tsitsipas showed faith in his eyes stopping play to challenge a Nadal lob that was ruled good. Replay showed the shot landed long giving the Greek double set point.
Tsitsipas slid his fifth ace down the T closing a tight 58-minute set that saw Nadal win 19 of 22 first-serve points compared to 18 of 22 for the man in the neon orange headband.
Tennis is all about adjustments and Nadal made his finding the strike zone on his forehand and going after his second-serve returns.
Seventy-eight minutes into the match, Tsitsipas spit up his first double fault to face double break point. A slider second serve set up a gutsy forehand down the line he took on the rise to save the first.
A jumping Nadal jammed a forehand into net on the second break point than overshot a second straight forehand. The 6'4" Greek soared forward closing on a serve-and-volley to remain unbroken up 3-2 in the second set.
Unrelenting intensity helped Nadal break through in the ninth game. Swarming forward, Nadal thumped a smash for break point. Tsitsipas dragged a crosscourt forehand wide surrendering serve for the first time in the tournament.
Serving for the set at 5-4, Nadal made sure he got a good look at forehands and made the most of them. Slashing an ace wide brought him triple set point. On his third set point, Nadal torched a wide serve and pumped his fist sending this must-win match into a decider.
The top seed hit his forehand with more menacing intent and crept closer to the baseline to return second serve in snatching the second set.
The Laver Cup teammates tested each other in the early stages of the decider. Tsitsipas rallied from 15-30 down to hold in the opening game.
Tsitsipas saved two more break points, including an erasing ace, holding for 3-2.
Still, Nadal kept coming earning a seventh break point in the seventh game. Tsitsipas torched a 134 mph blast to erase it, eventually going up 4-3.
A sprinting Nadal flicked a superb sliding running forehand pass down the line that caught the sideline for a break point in the 11th game. Tsitsipas saved it but stuck a backhand into net to face a ninth break point.
Dipping a running pass at the Greek's feet, Nadal gained the crucial break when Tsitsipas' tricky backhand volley spun wide.
The world No. 1 served out a two hour, 52-minute triumph beating Tsitsipas for the fifth time in six meetings.
Now, Nadal will become the world's biggest fan rooting for Medvedev to defeat defending-champion Zverev.
If he does, Nadal would win Group Andre Agassi and take on rival Roger Federer in tomorrow's semifinals, while Tsitsipas would face Group Bjorn Borg champion Dominic Thiem in the semifinals.
If Zverev beats Medvedev then Tsitsipas wins the Agassi Group and would play Federer in the semifinals with Zverev facing Thiem.