Finally we have “some pieces” of Nadal back at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship after the horrible loss suffered with Andy Murray in the previous round (see article).
Rafa has shown he can still be competitive after defeating Wawrinka in straight sets in the consolation match of the MWTC (7-6 (1) 6-3). Nadal wasn’t at his very best also against Stan to regularly shank forehands and missing some easy shots. In one game in the second set Nadal has even managed to lose a game at love missing 4 consecutive (and easy) backhand returns, something we have never seen from the Spanish Legend. But there was still something good…
What worked?
First of all Rafa won the match against the world no.4 (this must have a value); then Nadal had some moments of “Rafa’s brilliance” with the display of his terrifying forehand that makes him unplayable at times; finally Rafa showed to be willing to win this match even if he was at his 60% (this is the competitive edge that he was missing against Murray).
I played a positive match
Rafa commented “I did make some mistakes, but in general, I feel I played a positive match, against another tough opponent. So it is good to have this test and for me it is great to have an opportunity to play these two matches in Abu Dhabi and I thank the organisers for giving me this chance. The work I came to do here, I believe is done and I really hope these two matches will help me moving forward.”
Nadal will now head to Doha where he will play his first official tournament of the year. Let’s hope to see him back at his stellar level.
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