Courtside

Rafa Nadal was on the verge of a loss, and, as he admitted in the aftermath, considering that he would shortly be leaving the court. “In that moment, what you think is probably in five minutes, you are in the locker room,” he recounted. He was down 1-5 and 30-40 in the deciding set, and, facing a determined Daniil Medvedev, figured the end was near. He hadn’t exactly been playing well, and he was realistic enough to consider a second straight setback. Yet, if there was anything he could also count on doing, it was fighting for every point with the contest still in doubt.

Which was exactly what Nadal did. In part, it helped that he was serving; after saving match point with a sterling drop shot, he closed out the game and thus put pressure on Medvedev to consolidate the upset. In larger measure, it helped that he was, well, himself; he managed to build momentum and strung together five more games before being forced into a tiebreaker. By then, though, the outcome was practically decided. As the would-be winner turned vanquished noted, “Rafa fought his best, because he could just say ‘OK, it’s over at 5-1 and just give me the point,’ but we all know Rafa is not about this.”

Nadal’s umpteenth escape kept him alive at the ATP Finals and still in contention to claim the top of the world rankings by the turn of the year. It’s bad news for the competition, certainly, and not just because he appears to be rounding into form. Heading into the season-ending tournament in London, he found his fitness stunted by an injury that hitherto had him withdrawing from the Paris Masters. His rust was especially apparent in his opener against defending champion Alexander Zverev, during which he committed error after error, lost serve three straight times, and lasted just 83 minutes before bowing out two and four.

Up next for Nadal is Stefanos Tsitsipas, always dangerous but against whom he has claimed four of five meetings. Needless to say, his road to success will likewise be dependent on how the scheduled match between fellow powerhouses Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer plays out. In any case, there can be no counting him out until, as Medvedev can attest, he actually is.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.