“Can win on every surface, against any player,” Rafael Nadal doesn’t feel the need to defend himself after loss against Dominic Thiem

“Can win on every surface, against any player,” Rafael Nadal doesn’t feel the need to defend himself after loss against Dominic Thiem
Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem

Rafael Nadal lost to the 2020 U.S Open champion Dominic Thiem in the hard-courts of the Nitto ATP Finals. The duo contended in a 2-set thriller, which comprised of epic tie-breaks. The 20-time Grand Slam champion failed to win his 5th consecutive tie-break against the Austrian as the score was 6-7(9), 6-7(7).

While Thiem qualifies for the semi-final spot, Rafa is still on the market as he continues his bid for his maiden ATP Finals title. 

“Sad for the loss, but happy for Dominic” Rafa graciously applauds his opponent

Rafael Nadal

Even though Nadal wasn’t sloppy during the match, Thiem managed to edge past him by raising the bar in the key moments. Rafa wasn’t bitter about how tight the match was. In fact, in his post-match conference, he said that Thiem “played an amazing match.”

FS Video

Further, he didn’t get bogged down by the score, and applauded himself for being the champ that he is. 

“I don’t want to pretend to be arrogant at all, because I am not. But I really don’t need to show to myself or to no one that if I am playing my best tennis. I think I can win in every surface and against any player,” he stated.

He proceeded to acknowledge that he’d never won the ATP Finals, but will have to play his best if he wanted the chances. Rafa is not “feeling negative” because he created “plenty of chances” for himself in the first and the second sets. Even so, the Spaniard will aim to turn to another gear in his battle against Stefanos Tsitsipas. 

Also Read: Watch: Best-of-3 or Best-of-5 sets? Djokovic and Nadal vehemently oppose each other when it comes to the structure of Grand Slam events