“Claydal running away from Djokovic once again” Rafael Nadal gets hammered on social media after his lopsided performance against Taylor Fritz in Turin opener

“Claydal running away from Djokovic once again” Rafael Nadal gets hammered on social media after his lopsided performance against Taylor Fritz in Turin opener

Rafael Nadal (IMAGO / Shutterstock)

22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal lost his first group stage match at the 2022 ATP Finals against American Taylor Fritz in straight sets 6-7(3),1-6. Nadal, who is the top seed in Turin, is yet to win a match since bowing out of the US Open in the Round of 16 and is currently on a 3-match losing streak.

Nadal recovered from an injury after the US Open but still hasn’t found any momentum. Against Fritz, he looked very defensive and hardly took charge of the rallies. He was a much better player in the opening set as compared to the second but found it difficult to land his first serve in place during crunch situations.

YouTube video

He didn’t have any momentum during the second set and was left a sitting duck at times. Fritz dominated the rallies from the baseline and injected pace in the rallies which don’t suit well to Rafa’s game. In the end, Nadal didn’t have much to do and only managed to win a single game in the second set.

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Nadal will now seriously have to revamp his game if he wants to qualify for the knockout stages. He ideally now has to win both of his remaining matches. He will next face Felix Auger-Aliassime, who is coached by his Uncle Toni Nadal, on Tuesday afternoon.

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Tennis Twitter slams Rafael Nadal for underperforming on indoor hard courts

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal (IMAGO / IP3press)

Nadal doesn’t do well on indoor hard court in general but against Fritz, he looked terribly out of form. He wasn’t able to match Fritz’s speed and at times didn’t even know what he had to do to win. Fans on social media were very unhappy with Nadal’s performance and slammed him. They even mocked him by citing him as ‘only’ a clay court player and even questioned whether he should play at this age with such terrible form.

https://twitter.com/Que_Mes8/status/1591916772063682562

Nadal will have to make it to the final if he wants to end the season as World No.1 but as of now, it looks very unlikely.

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