Nadal and Murray use MWTC to assemble intel on health and kind for brand spanking new season

0
556

Immediately after winning the Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) title on Saturday, Andrey Rublev laughed at suggestions that the “Big Four” might not be that big and intimidating anymore.

Continue reading

“No, it’s a little illusion because you know the real situation,” said the Russian number 5 in the world with a smile. “They’re still at the top, it doesn’t matter if they haven’t played tennis for a year and their placements drop, they know they are at the top. So I don’t think so.”

The “top tennis players” Rublev referred to are of course four of the giants of men’s tennis: the multiple Grand Slam winners Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer as well as the three-time major winner and two-time Olympic champion Andy Murray.

Given all their accomplishments, Rublev made a fair point and in Djokovic’s case, the Serb is still literally the ‘top one’ after a season that saw him win three of four majors and finish the year at the top of the rankings. a record-breaking seventh season.

In the case of the other three, two of which competed alongside Rublev in Abu Dhabi, the landscape is significantly different. While Federer is still a long way from returning – the 40-year-old Swiss admitted in November that he would be absent after a third knee operation within 18 months at least until the middle of next year – there was a lot of intrigue surrounding Nadal and Murray at the MWTC .

The 35-year-old Nadal has regularly taken part in the pre-season exhibition tournament to refine his game against top-class opponents before a new season. With a record of five titles in the capital, it has proven to be a formula for success.

But this year he arrived at his eleventh appearance with “no great expectations” as he had not played a game since August due to a serious foot injury. In fact, his foot was so bad that the Spaniard revealed in Abu Dhabi that his last tournament of the season, the Washington Open, was in “very bad shape … it was a disaster”. This year it wasn’t so much about judging his game as his general health.

It is surprising and understandable that when Nadal returned to the competition, he was rusty and had to endure two defeats from his two games, but the aura that surrounds him and the fire that burns within him remain as strong as ever.

The 13-time French Open champion collected the lion’s share of support on Friday and Saturday in an almost full International Tennis Center stadium and played with his typical intensity despite the obvious lack of match sharpness. Even without a match in six months, Nadal brought the Canadian world rankings 14 Denis Shapovalov in the playoff for third place on three sets.

The question now is how far away Nadal is from returning to the tour. He made it clear that his goal was to find his way down under and compete in the Australian Open next month, but that he “can’t guarantee 100 percent … I’ll take it day after day”.

While his fitness is surrounded by uncertainty, he can never doubt his drive and commitment.

“I’m still playing after my career because I still believe I’ll be competitive enough to give myself chances in the things I’ve done for the last 15 years,” said Nadal. “I don’t play for money or for fun – I play to keep achieving goals and enjoying the process of achieving my goals. If I don’t get there, that’s fine, but the motivation and passion is still there . “

After beating Nadal in the semi-finals on Friday, Murray empathized with his longtime rival. “I know how it feels,” said the 34-year-old Briton when asked for his thoughts on the Spaniard’s recovery path.

In fact, Murray knows better than most after his hip injury that nearly ended his career in early 2019. It’s been a long, arduous and often frustrating journey for the former world number 1 who is still outside the top 100, but there was reason to be optimistic at the end of last season and again at MWTC.

After entering the off-season after a series of back-to-back tournaments and two wins over the top 10 opponents, Murray returned to the Abu Dhabi square to record wins against world number 25 Dan Evans and Nadal before suffering a narrow loss to Rublev in the final.

“It’s been a good week for me,” said Murray. “I played three games against completely different styles, that was positive. It was good to see where my body is, to play with this intensity.

“I learned a lot in the three games. Certainly some things have improved over the week and there are things to work on, but it was good.”

Updated: December 19, 2021, 3:38 pm