Rafael Nadal has recorded his second round-robin defeat at the ATP Finals in Turin by losing 6-3, 6-4 to tournament debutant Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Green Group.
Rafa has now lost four straight matches for only the second time in his career, following defeats at the US Open and Paris. After starting the season by winning the Australian Open and French Open to take his tally of Grand Slam titles to a record 22, Rafa has played just eight singles matches since having to withdraw from the Wimbledon semifinals with an injury.
“Couple of positive things. I was able to play two tournaments in the past three weeks. That’s the positive thing, something that I was not able to do for a while,” Rafa said. “I don’t think I forgot how to play tennis, how to be strong enough mentally. I just need to recover all these positive feelings and all this confidence and all this strong mentality that I need to be at the level that I want to be.
“I don’t know if I going to reach that level again. But what I don’t have any doubt is that I am going to die for it.”
How dare you prove you are human. Ha! People tend to forget, amidst your amazingness status, that you truly are human even though you have accomplished more than any other human on the planet regarding tennis. You are allowed to have a bad day. For heaven’s sake you hardly played since the French Open and you are STILL WORLD NUMBER 2!!!! Absolutely amazing! We love you! Ignore the nay-sayers and people who simply don’t understand when you lose. No, we don’t like it when you lose. But we love you for YOU AND YOUR TENNIS! Not just wins. We know you’ve gone through SOOO much this year. It’s absolutely incredible that you have maintained the level you have. Will be watching and cheering you on against Casper. Always will love you and respect you. And you WILL ALWAYS BE THE G.O.A.T! Vamos, Rafa! See you in Australia!
😔
Rafa tried his best but congratulations to Felix, hope he joins Casper in the semis.
All the best to Rafa next season.❤️
Well the good news is that Rafa for the moment is injury free. His foot doesn’t seem to be bothering and he seems to have finally healed from the nasty ab injury. I watched the match and Rafa definitely looked rusty, his timing was off and he didn’t seem confident in a lot of his shots. But that’s probably to be expected considering he hasn’t played competitively since the US Open. And now he’s playing against the top 7 players in the world who have all been playing tournaments recently. But I have no doubt he will be back in top form, just will take some time and more competitions. At the very least the matches against the best this week is good practice for him, even if he is not winning the matches.
This is so sad… very few comments on here reflects how we feel, but to be fair, we should still recognize his mastery of tennis and not forget it. Frankly I’m surprised and I have written this before, either stay away until you are totally healed mentally and physically, or retire.
It is painful to see him like this.
Perhaps it is time to retire while he is still ahead