Daniil Medvedev defeated Rafael Nadal to reach the final at the ATP Finals on Saturday, beating our champ 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3 at the O2 Arena. It was his first triumph over Rafa in their four H2H meetings.
Rafa served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but the Russian, after blowing the chance to go 5-1 up in the same set, just produced some outstanding hitting to force a tie-break and then take the decider.
The Russian, who has won nine consecutive matches, will play Dominic Thiem for the title.
‘I don’t know. I think I achieved enough to not find an excuse about the pressure,’ said Rafa, who denied he had any physical issues in the back end of the match.
‘I know I won enough matches and enough tournaments in an even more difficult situation than this one and even in more important matches than tonight. So I don’t feel that way.
‘I feel I played a bad game. Of course you are nervous to win the match. But not me. Everybody. Is normal to have the tension. I think he played some good points and I make a couple of mistakes.
‘And that’s it, and then he played a good tiebreak. Yeah. And I played, I should be winning my serve in the third, the one that I lost. I had easy volley to close the game.
‘Small details makes a big difference. Just well done for him and not enough good for me.’
Source: metro.co.uk
Rafa life go on is ok you are a human being not a machine good luck 2021 all the best vamosssssss champ yor fans for ever 🎾❤️👍😘🎾❤️👍😘🇺🇸
I’m a long time Rafa fan, to me all his loss hurt really bad… all Rafa need to do it’s go back to his island, and regroup… he need to work out with moya those lapses he had been falling into crucial moments, when the match it’s on the line… he needs to figure out Dominic thiem riddle, about all, moya need to make Rafa understand, that as he getting old, he needs to avoid, physicals rallies with the younger generation… Rafa it’s a genius of tennis… he will figure it out with his team, and he will bounce in 2021, he always had found solutions to resolve riddles, and he will continue to do so… and as long as he be willing it’s always the possibility that he one day win the ATP finals, maybe when he moved to Italy… i always been,superstitious about Rafa and England, I feel it never been a land favorable to him… he hadn’t many success there… so we all Rafa fans should be having the consolation that next year he will rebound and bring with himself a game more savvy than before!!! Enjoy the holidays everyone!!! Merry Christmas and happy new year!!!
Here of all places one would expect “fans” to abstain from rubbing salt on Nadal’s wounds by purporting to know better than him about how to win or not to loose a match.
Win or loose Nadal is my favourite tennis player and I can only empathize with how sad he must be feeling after such a loss.
Wamos Rafa, you are the best.
Puma, everyone is entitled to their opinion on Rafa’s performance : what did well or what he failed to do. That’s part of being a fan. It would be pretty boring if we all just said “Vamos Rafa” or “We love you Rafa…”Most of us on this site are devoted fans of Rafa (I am one going back to when he was a teenager).
There is absolutely nothing wrong in giving a genuine objective critique and I’m sure many of the comments to which you refer, are borne out of both frustration and sadness that Rafa didn’t manage to get over the finish line. I think we all appreciate how painful the loss must be for him and I, for one, take comfort in knowing that he’ll bounce back. He has too much talent to do otherwise.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Rafa me imagino como te siente, ha sudo una oportunidad muy buena la que has perdido y mas un trofeo que te falta en la vitrina, pero otra vez serª, xq el año que viene si Dios quiere te volveremos a ver, a ti te queda mucho tenis, estás en un momento tenistica impecable, Adelante y SIEMPRE CONTIGO!!!!!!
As a long-time Rafa fan, I too was very sad to see him lose last night. However, as well as the comments on the rightness/wrongness of his and Medvedev’s tactics, please don’t underestimate the effect the lack of an engaged crowd or a bunch of cheering supporters can have on the players. I was at the O2 last year for the Rafa-Medvedev match and when he was down 5-1 pretty much every one of the 12,000+ spectators was cheering him on and willing him to turn things around and win. He responded magnificently, while Medvedev seemed to respond negatively to the overwhelming support for his opponent. After Rafa won, and to a standing ovation, he thanked the crowd for all their support and said that it had made a huge difference for him. I can’t help wondering if there had been the energy of a supportive crowd there rooting for Rafa, rather than a dark and empty arena, whether the outcome would have been different. As it was, he did his best in the circumstances, and he’s still a champion and an outstanding tennis player.
I don’t agree it was the lack of crowd support that lost the match for Rafa, it was his playing. As a Rafa fan I could clearly see he wasn’t at his best. And that’s okay with me but I find it hard to believe he lost because there weren’t cheering fans. At times during the match it looked as if neither player wanted to win. In the end, starting at 3:3 in the decider, Medvedev got his act together and Rafa had no answer to win the match. Rafa also missed backhands that would have helped him. I just hope he is physically okay and I look forward to his 2021 season.
I didn’t say that it was specifically because of the lack of crowd support that Rafa lost the match, just that it could have been a factor, based on my experience of actually having been at the O2 last year for the Rafa-Medvedev match then and on what Rafa actually said to the crowd. When interviewed this year at this event, and at others held without spectators, many of the participating players have said they feel the lack of a crowd and miss the spectators, and that it can be difficult to raise their energy at times as a result.
I agree with Margo’s view here. It was Rafa’s errors that lost him the match. With the kind of serving and loose arm we saw from Medvedev, holding serve was vital for Rafa. The conditions are the same for everyone in the tournament with respect to the lack of a crowd. It comes down to the one who can stay in the fight and best impose their game on their opponent. Best of luck to the finalists tonight.
I’ve turned the page on the final chapter of this year already and I’m now looking forward to next season. As long as Rafa remains fit and healthy and still has the apetite, then I believe we’ll see more great things from him before he’s done.
Really sad and can’t believe Rafa lost after being 5-4 in the second. One can take this loss very philosophically but Rafa doesn’t have many more chances to finally win Paris and Nitto. Well …… just hope he continues playing longer. Can’t bear tennis without him.
In the last years he has lost quite a few matches even though he was on the brink of winning. Hope he can turn that around in the near future.
Love you Rafa!
Take care!
Its pure a mental thing. Rafa used to have a mental edge over his opponents when it comes to going long distance in a best of five or best of three. He had one of the best five sets record of the atp tour but ever since he lost to djokovic at the australian open 2012 final he kinda lost his mental edge and instead became very nervous in closing matches out. I gave a couple of examples him losing in five sets when he was a break up in the final or had chances in the fifth. Another example was his loss against djokovic at wimbeldon semifinal 2018 when he had breakpoints in the final set is it just simple him choking.
And lets not forget he almost give a double break away in the final set of the us open final 2019 when he was visible nervous in closing the match out
Nadal has a lot of homework to do not on his game but mentally I know he is not going to do it but I wish he would acknowledge the problem and add someone to his team who can help him with the mental part he lost just too many important matches in his career in order to ignore it