“I would be concerned if he was changing his baby’s diapers in Mallorca, but he’s out there practicing and he looks great” Vicki Duval is ecstatic to watch Rafael Nadal train for the upcoming ATP Finals
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Vicki Duval and Rafael Nadal
The ATP Finals 2022 is finally going to start in a couple of days. The season-ending tournament will be played in the beautiful city of Turin from 13th November to 20th November 2022. During a live chat with Jimmy Arias and Rob Simmelkjaer on Tennis Channel, an American professional tennis player, Victoria Duval (also known as Vicki Duval) expressed her excitement for the upcoming year-ending championship. Vicki is particularly ecstatic to finally watch Rafael train despite going through a series of injuries throughout 2022.
As per the tennis star himself, the Green Group is particularly easier for the 2022 French Open champion as compared to the Red Group, which has three ATP Finals tournament winners.
Appreciating Rafel for participating in the year-end tournament despite going through a rather tough phase in his professional career, she noted, “I think we are really happy to see Rafa in the lineup. I would be concerned if he was in Mallorca changing his (his baby’s) diapers, but he’s out there practicing and he looks great. He’s a routine kind of guy and he has a good shot.”
For those uninitiated, the groups for the prestigious event are already drawn and have been making rounds on the internet. The Green Group comprises Rafael Nadal (Seed #1), Casper Ruud (Seed #3), Felix Auger-Aliassime (Seed #5), and Taylor Fritz (Seed #8). While, on the other hand, the Red Group comprises Stefanos Tsitsipas (Seed #2), Daniil Medvedev (Seed #4), Andrey Rublev (Seed #6), and Novak Djokovic (Seed #7).
Last shot at glory for tennis legend Rafael Nadal?
Many experts and commentators believe that this may very well be the last time we are seeing tennis legend Rafael Nadal in action. When the ATP season 2022 was going to start, there were some serious doubts over the fitness of the ‘King of Clay’. But he came back and participated in the Australian Open and ultimately defeated Daniil Medvedev in the final by winning three sets straight despite losing two sets. He won the Mexican Open and Indian Wells Open. However, soon after the back-to-back victories, his form took a drastic dip as he was knocked out of the Madrid Open and Italian Open.
However, he came back strongly and won the French Open title by defeating World No. 1 Casper Ruud in the final. At Wimbledon, he had to retire from the semi-final match due to poor physical fitness. He also missed many tournaments subsequently and made a comeback in the US Open, but was knocked out in the fourth round. He featured in the Paris Masters tournament but had a shock exit at the hands of Tommy Paul in the second round of the competition.
With that being said, there is no denying the fact that the Spaniard is currently struggling with his fitness. Also, history is not on his side. He has featured in the ATP Finals tournament 17 times. However, he has never been able to win the trophy. His best performance came in 2010 when he played the Championship match against arch-rival and retired Swiss maestro Roger Federer.
With that being said, it will be pretty interesting to see if the 22-time Grand Slam champion will compete in the ATP tour next year. So, this may very well be his last chance to win the ATP Finals trophy before he decides to hang up his boots for good.
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