“In the Top-10 soon” Rafael Nadal praises Taylor Fritz for an outstanding week in Indian Wells, speaks about upcoming youngsters from the US
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Taylor Fritz and Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal‘s first defeat of the season finally comes after his run at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters where he finished as the runner-up to local boy Taylor Fritz who clinched his first-ever Masters title and second of his career. Fritz won the match 6-3, 7-6(5) to become the first American in 21 years to win the title in Indian Wells after Andre Agassi won back in 2001.
Nadal was looking to pick up his 21st straight win of the season but things turned out against him as he lost in straight-sets. While the defeat was heart-aching for sure, Nadal actually had issues in breathing during the match and by his own admission, he felt like a needle was piercing him every time he spoke or moved. The Spaniard also received treatment on the court after the first set calling both the trainer and doctor who gave him some on-court stretching that looked quite painful for the 21-time Grand Slam champion.
Despite this, Nadal asked the press to focus more on Taylor’s win and not overshadow it by speaking more about his fitness issues than the 24-year old’s success. Addressing the press conference, Nadal shared his opinions on the tennis players coming from the USA, a young brigade led by the likes of Fritz, Reilly Opelka and Frances Tiafoe.
“They’re doing well, victories like today helps. He (Fritz) played well, he went through some great matches during this week, especially yesterday lot of credit to him for the victory of yesterday. In my opinion, his victory yesterday is much bigger than his victory today because he had a much tougher opponent in front yesterday than today. He has played great matches, in Australia this year if I’m not wrong against Tsitsipas.
“So it is obvious that he is improving, with this victory it is a great start of a season for him and he will have a chance to be very close if not in the Top-10 very soon. So it will be a big battle for these numbers because there are a lot of young and great players fighting out,” said Nadal indicating that the battle to break and remain in the Top-10 is already heating up with the majority of the season still left.
Rafael Nadal back in the Top-3
Nadal has participated so far in 4 tournaments this season and has won titles in 3 of them including the 2022 Australian Open, with only the Indian Wells being an exception. His fantastic run sees him enter into the Top-3 once again having started the season as World No. 6 and entered the tournament in Indian Wells as World No. 4.
With the Clay season set to begin from April which is the favourite part of the Tour for the ‘King of Clay’, the Spaniard stands a good chance to reclaim his spot at the top of the ATP rankings but it would require results of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev to go his way in the coming months during the Golden Swing of the Tour.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)