A terrifying end to the season by Rafael Nadal! He won’t be back as world number one

In June this year, Rafael Nadal celebrated his 36th birthday, yet he continues to be one of the top tennis players. However, he is not doing well at the Tournament of Champions, having not won a single set in his opening two matches and will most likely drop out in the group stage.

Rafael Nadal entered the 2022 calendar year in a great way by winning the Australian Open. Right after that, he added a valuable trophy in Acapulco, Mexico, where he didn’t lose a single set. His first loss came in the Indian Wells final against Taylor Fritz.

Subsequently, he was undefeated at the French Open, which earned him his 22nd Grand Slam laurel. At Wimbledon he reached the semi-finals, but due to health problems he did not even enter the match.

Since then, he has played only six competitive matches, half of which he lost. Before the start of the Tournament of Champions, he was definitely not one of the favourites to win the overall title, but he was expected to advance from the group.

Especially since the draw was quite favourable to him. While he is in the Green Group together with Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas are fighting for advancement in the Red Group.

However, the thirty-six year old Spaniard shows a lack of match practice. In his duel with Taylor Fritz, he did not work out even one break point opportunity, and therefore the result 6::7 and 1::6 could not surprise anyone.

In the duel with the Canadian youngster Auger-Aliassime, he was a bit more successful on the return, but he was not able to deprive his opponent of his serve even once. That’s why he lost after less than two hours in sets 3::6 and 4::6.

The Spanish tennis player has been waiting for a win for four matches and he certainly imagined a better end to the season. If he fails to advance from the group, which is very likely, he will not return to the world number one position.

Source: ATP