Nadal Beats Tsitsipas At ATP Finals, But Comes Up Short In SF Bid; Zverev Makes Last 4

by Staff | November 15th, 2019, 8:26 pm
  • 19 Comments

A day after clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking, Rafael Nadal came up with a strong performance beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 on the final day of round robin play at the ATP Finals in London.

Nadal needed the win to stay alive in the semifinal race, but later was eliminated when Alexander Zverev swept away Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6(4) to earn the final spot.

“Preparations have been very short and it’s the worst tournament possible to arrive without the best preparation possible,” Nadal said of his results. “In other tournaments, sometimes you can be a little bit more lucky with the draw. You can win two matches and then you have a tough one, but you will be more prepared for it.


“But here, on the first day, you play one of the best players in the world on a tough surface. If you don’t arrive with plenty of confidence in your body and your movements, things become much more difficult. I think that’s what happened. Then I think I have been improving on my tennis each day.”

Nadal still has Davis Cup next week if he’s able, otherwise this was his last match of the year.

Meanwhile, Tsitsipas returns tomorrow to face Roger Federer in his semifinal.

“My body feels well currently. I don’t feel pain anywhere. I feel fresh, honestly,” Tsitsipas said. “After having a long, difficult match like this, I feel like I can go out and play tomorrow the same way. So I don’t have any problem with that.”

Later, Zverev got back to the semifinals with a tough win over Medvedev who ends his first ATP Finals without winning a match and was eliminated before he took the court.

“[Daniil] had nothing to lose here. For me, this was a must-win situation,” Zverev said. “All credit to Daniil. It’s been an unbelievable season for him, and I think he’s going to be very dangerous next year as well.”

The German will continue his title defense tomorrow against Dominic Thiem.

“[Thiem] has been playing some unbelievable tennis, maybe the best tennis that we have ever seen from him,” said Zverev. “Actually beating Roger and Novak on this court is very special. Doing it back-to-back is very, very difficult.”

Thiem leads Zverev 5-2 in their meetings.

“The O2 is the most special arena for me. It’s where I play my best tennis,” Zverev said. “The atmosphere here is something we don’t play in anywhere else in the world. It’s so special to us.

“I’ve still got to improve. We’re in the semifinals now and it doesn’t get any easier from here. I’m going to have to play my best tennis to have a chance.”

Federer has won two of three over Tsitsipas including a Basel win last month.

SATURDAY ATP FINALS LONDON SCHEDULE
Centre Court Starts At 12:00 Noon
SF 5 Raven Klaasen-Michael Venus v 1 Juan Sebastian Cabal-Robert Farah
Not Before 2:00 Pm
SF 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas v 3 Roger Federer
Not Before 6:00 Pm
SF 7 Pierre-Hugues Herbert-Nicolas Mahut v 2 Lukasz Kubot-Marcelo Melo
Not Before 8:00 Pm
SF 5 Dominic Thiem v 7 Alexander Zverev


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19 Comments for Nadal Beats Tsitsipas At ATP Finals, But Comes Up Short In SF Bid; Zverev Makes Last 4

van orten Says:

Make your Opponent Great Again … the Never ending Story of roger Federer


van orten Says:

Beating himself today .. poor roger fans he cannot lose in a normal way


skeezer Says:

Although Fed did not look nearly as sharp as against Djoker, all credit to Tsitsipas. He played like a younger better Fed.


Okiegal Says:

Being consistent is what makes tennis players the greatest of their time, we’ll see how it all shakes down……consistency separates the men from the boys, me thinks! Congrats are in order for the Fly, he played amazing today, I was sad for Fed, wish he could have won.

Meanwhile it’s football ball time in OKLAHOMA! Go COWBOYS! 🏈🏈


j-kath Says:

I thought Roger was looking extremely fit – no excess weight (which he had previously), but there was something missing – he just didn’t seem fully engaged….yes, there were moments when he pulled himself together…..but he simply didn’t have the resolve today.


Wog Boy Says:

The story of 38 years career, he is the best when he feels opponents fear, when he smells blood, his confidence is sky high, Tsisipas had none of that.
I understand the elations of his fans for beating Nole, after all he is the man who has beaten him so many times including 3 finals on his beloved grass in Wimbledon, the man who has beaten him in 19 finals (losing only 6 out of 25), beating him in few finals after 38 years old had few championship points on his serve, of course you have to be butthurt, but you don’t have to be m.o.r.o.n to state this:

“ That was more than payback.”

Really, beating Nole in RR match is revenge for losing GS final after having 2 championship points, you are not only butthurt but you are m.o.r.o.n?
38 years old has beaten player who was full of fear, confused player, emotionless player, who didn’t know why is he on the court and who put him there, if you didn’t see that than you are also blind, that wasn’t Novak Djokovic and then 38 years old didn’t even make final.

Go Thiem, the player who has beaten 2 best indoor players deserves to lift the trophy.


Wog Boy Says:

This is for Nole fans, particularly for smartass Milos who says that Nole knows what he is doing and that his diet is proper diet for professional sportsperson who competes in one of the most mentally and physically demanding sports
Why Nole was battling and being trashed in London his beloved witch at the same time was in NY promoting conman books.
I challenge every sane person to tell me that this is good looking, healthy and sane woman.
I send this video to my frien who is psychologist to ask her for opinion, I received SMS after 5 minutes with answer “this woman is not right”.
I didn’t watch entire video, I was doing FF, I’ll rather go one month in jail than to watch 50 minutes of this witch, keep in your mind that she is Nole wife:

https://youtu.be/zMT4rh_MRw0

Can you imagine her influence on Nole, after Pepe, Damar (Serbian conman) she brought home this American conman who claims that he heals people by contacting spirits from the future?!


Wog Boy Says:

Correction, 19 finals, losing 6 and winning 13.
To early here, yet to have my coffee;)


Milos Says:

I have to agree with Wog Boy on this one, this is really terrible… She looks too skinny and way older then her true age…


Wog Boy Says:

Ok, I retract “smartass” remark.


Django Says:

Wog boy
She is plotting her own career now, Nole on back burner. “It’s my time now.”
She took him to this diet and pulled him from the church to occultism. Slava celebrations? No.


RZ Says:

Tsitsipas has a unuque opportunity…win the ATP finals the year after winning the Next Gen finals.

But I’m firmly Team Thiem! Should be a goos final.


chrisford1 Says:

Hoo boy!
Still, at the end of the day, Djokovic is the Captain of his own fate and his dismissal of winning team members that gave him the diet and conditioning that made him perhaps the greatest player who has played the sport when he is on his game – is on Nole’s shoulders.
We fans of Djokovic know he is a very bright guy, with many standout attributes outside tennis. But smart people do dumb things just like the rest of us.
If he messes himself up listening to quacks and to some of his wife’s crazy notions and losers like Pepe – that is on the Captain’s shoulders as well. He has the power to tell them all to STFU, have a balanced diet and listen to actual nutritionists and physio people until his career is over in 5 years or so.
You see the bad results of a vegan diet in several star athletes, so much that diet experts warn it is a terrible idea for star athletes having a lot of wear and tear and needing optimum strength and speed. The vegan diet of Cam Newton, superstar quarterbck who had a disastrous 2019 season after switching from a pescatarian diet he had been on since 1st year in college has been closely watched in America. Newton’s measured speed and strength decreased. Dozens of trainers and nutritionists working with NFL teams as well as other demanding pro and Olympic sports blamed the Vegan diet and laid out the metrics of how critical abilities and skills significantly as he played vegan.

He was constantly getting injured. He was no longer able to recover from injury, injuries piled up and got worse from playing hurt. His stamina faded. Like Djokovic, he is in serious denial about his performance decline, benching, and now being done for the season.


Django Says:

It’s up to Novak. Now the new -age witch has some traveling Reiki guy in the mix.

His two slam finals this year were
probably the two best of his career, beating his two greatest rivals.

He should reflect about this and eat some fish.


Van Persie Says:

Yeah, I hope Nole will get his sh7t together, as it would be a shame for him to retire because of such BS…

He does not have to do it for his fans, but for himself, as I am sure he knows deep down his wife sells him BS.


Tennisfansince76 Says:

@wogboy I watched a few minutes. 2 observations. All of the stuff he is recycled stuff, juice fasting and liver cleanses have been around a long time. Secondly if I were watching that video without knowing who she was I would assume they were involved.


Wog Boy Says:

TF76, thanks for your reply and input, I am in awe how such smart and fairly educated person (Nole) can get sucked into such nonsense, I am tired and don’t have words anymore.
One thing for sure, this witch is definitely not discriminatory, she has three active gurus from three different backgrounds, Spanish guru for morning tea, Serbian guru for afternoon tea and American for bedtime.


Wog Boy Says:

Django, that reiki guru is the most dangerous one, Jelena brought him in 4-5 years ago and introduced him to Nole, he was often seen sitting in Nole box next to witch, he claims that he can visit our “past lives’ and find cause of our problems and that he can cure us.
He is the most dangerous one because he is trained and educated GP who abandoned conventional medicine for alternative one, his words are stronger because naive people will say “even he as GP doesn’t believe in conventional medicine, so he is right because he knows both”.
He is conman, Nole (or Jelena) bought him apartment in elite part of New Belgrade as a gratitude for what he has done for Nole, can you believe it?!

American guru claims that he was visited by spirit from the future at the age of 4 and that spirit enabled him to cure the people and they are falling for that.

Pepe is peace and love and whatever else.

If you are surrounded by those creatures it’s hard to stay sane, I don’t think this time around Nole will be able to snap out of it, it’s too much for his honest soul.

The name of Serbian reiki guru is Zarko Ilic, goes by the professional name “Damar” (Turkish for visible human arteries) you can see him in this link, at one stage him and Witch plastered their instagrams with their selfies, just scroll the pictures, that’ll be enough, you can also do google translate but pictures speak for themselves:

https://www.svet.rs/vesti/svet-otkriva-novak-kupio-stan-u-beogradu-novom-guruu-evo-ko-je-on-i-kako-ga-leci-foto


Django Says:

Hope he can snap out of it. Once witchcraft enters it’s usually too late. They suck the life force out of you.

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