Nadal before the chimera of the Masters. But why not dream?

Rafael Nadal looks up inside the Pala Alpitur and what he sees, he likes.

It is the first time that he has set foot on it, since last year he could not compete due to the chronic injury that he suffers in his left foot, and he is delighted in Turin;

not so much because of the stage, but also because of the fact of returning to a tournament that has historically turned its back on him and that is denied to him year after year.

Specifically, the Spaniard has achieved the ticket for the master event on 17 consecutive occasions, but for one reason or another he has not managed to conquer it.

A personal thorn, since the Masters is the only prestigious laurel that resists him and he, as winning as he is stubborn, would like to close the big circle, as the American Andre Agassi already did: the big four, the Davis Cup,

“Good morning, how are we doing?”, says the tennis player with a happy face, while enjoying a training session that, in addition to his coaching staff –Carlos Moyà, Francis Roig and Marc López–, is attended for a while by his uncle Toni, who While analyzing his nephew's balls, he gives technical instructions to his player, Felix-Augger Aliassime: “Like this, like this”.

On the other side of the net, the Russian Andrei Rublev has a hard time, because it turns out that the Mallorcan has come to the foothills of the Alps with a desire, a great desire to do well.

Accompanied for the first time by his son, Rafael junior, he squeezes and savors each blow in this latest approach to an extreme season, all or nothing.

Nadal bursts the ball, rehearses with the service and the sensations are good;

some stresses are gone and he's healthy, so why not dream?

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Nadal's umpteenth time trial

The antecedents say that almost everything is against it.

Of his 17 qualifications for the Masters Cup, in seven he had to get off the train due to some physical setback;

in another (2017, against David Goffin) he had to retire after playing the first game, sore in his right knee;

and to top off the misfortune, in three others he failed to get through the group stage, in addition to having lost the two finals he played: one against Roger Federer (2010) and the second against Novak Djokovic (2013).

That is to say, both opportunities are far, far away and his DNI says that he is already 36 years old, and that the cartridges are running out.

To this he adds that only one of his 92 trophies –the Masters 1000 in Madrid, in 2005– corresponds to the hard court and indoor format, only four of them obtained between October and November.

That is to say, practically a chimera.

But…

"You never know.

In sports, sometimes things change radically.

I'm playing more or less well, happy;

I have been able to train and I am here, which made me excited, so I come with the hope of doing well.

We're not going to kid ourselves: if I didn't think I had a fighting chance, I'd be somewhere else.

In the end I think I have my chances ”, he transmitted to a couple of special envoys on Friday, three days before the premiere this Sunday (9:00 p.m., Movistar) against the American Taylor Fritz (9th in the world).

That is, if the body respects him and there is no mishap involved, Nadal does not give up absolutely anything, despite all the negative statistics since in the only tournament in which he has been able to prove himself, Paris-Bercy two weeks ago, he punctured to the first change and ended up nauseated.

A service without corset

Don't forget the one from Manacor – framed in the initial group phase with Casper Ruud (4th) and Aliassime (6th), in addition to Fritz – who in this territory has not come up to the mark.

“I have lacked being a better player on the indoor court, it is a reality.

I have qualified 17 times for the Masters, but I have not been competitive all 17 times;

I don't know how many I have been able to play it with real options”, he remarks.

He is still smarting from the defeat he suffered a couple of years ago against Daniil Medvedev, in the semifinals, when he really looked capable of lifting the title.

"It's one of the things that has hurt me the most, it was the clearest opportunity of my career," he says.

But, at the same time, he feels that he has little to lose and much to gain, happy besides being able to close the year playing after he finished 2021 prostrated in the infirmary again.

Bye Rafa, welcome to Torino!

🙌@RafaelNadal |

#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/oJeJL56cv6

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 11, 2022

"I think I'm ready," he anticipates.

"And I think that in recent years I have improved significantly on this type of surface," says the 22-major champion, who suffered a double abdominal rupture during the summer: a first at Wimbledon (July) and another before traveling to the US Open (August).

The mishap forced him to give up continuing to compete in London and then conditioned his service.

Now, however, he performs it without corsets, quite normally.

“I need continuity, like I had until Indian Wells [where he cracked a rib].

Let's see if next year I get it.

I want to spend more days on the circuit, racing and training.

At this point in my career, one feeds off the illusion ”, he concludes.

Meanwhile, in the other group Djokovic sets the pace in the prelude to the competition.

The Serbian, five-time champion, is sharpening himself to try to catch Federer (6) and revalidate an achievement that has eluded him since 2015, when he beat the Swiss at the O2 in London.

A recent finalist in Paris-Bercy –surprised there by the young Dane Holger Rune–, he claims to be ready for the meeting of the eight masters.

“It would be a perfect ending, but the week is long.

Here, from the first game there is an extra intensity, but I am in shape, motivated and looking forward to the challenge, ”says the Balkan, who will fight from Monday with Medvedev, Rublev and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the first opponent of the.

To the outstanding exercise of him in the appointment, he joins the four awards obtained in this 2022 that, now yes, heads the final stretch.

No threat,

THIS IS THE MASTERS CUP

AC |

Turin

Format.

Two groups with four members each.

The best two will enter the semifinals, in which the first of the Green Group will be measured against the second of the Red and vice versa.

Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Felix-Augger Aliassime and Taylor Fritz.

Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev.

on Sunday 12 Ruud-Aliassime (2:00 p.m.) and Nadal-Fritz (9:00 p.m.) will face each other and on Monday 13 Medvedev-Rublev (2:00 p.m.) and Djokovic-Tsitsipas (9:00 p.m.). 

Saturday 19, at 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Sunday 20, at 7:00 p.m.

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