TENNIS REPORTING FROM LONDON, WE ARE SEEING THE RAFAEL NADAL OF OLD RETURN IN THE ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS BEATDOWN OF ANDY MURRAY BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 18th November 2015

TENNIS REPORTING FROM LONDON, WE ARE SEEING THE RAFAEL NADAL OF OLD RETURN IN THE ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS BEATDOWN OF ANDY MURRAY BY RICKY DIMON

epa05031397 Spain's Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Britain's Andy Murray during their round robin match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London, Britain, 18 November 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

The Rafael Nadal that has been on display for much of 2015 is so far nowhere to be found at the World Tour Finals. Instead, the Nadal of years prior this season of discontent is storming through the London competition through two rounds of group-stage action.

The Spaniard maintained momentum from his 6-3, 6-2 defeat of world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka to crush second-ranked Andy Murray 6-4, 6-1 on Wednesday afternoon. Nadal needed just one hour and 32 minutes to take complete control of Group Ilie Nastase and perfectly position himself for a spot in the semifinals.

This match progressed in eerily similar fashion to Nadal’s previous tilt with Wawrinka, although Nadal wasunquestionably better than he had been on Monday and Murray–despite a disappointing performance–was nowhere near as hopeless as Wawrinka. The Scot broke right away in the first game of the match only to give it right back, just as the Swiss had done against Nadal. Like Wawrinka, Murray did not break again the rest of the way and he did not even generate another break point.

Consistently playing on top of the baseline and using every imaginable angle on the court, Nadal turned this into a rare occasion on which he simply pushed Murray around on an indoor hard court. By the second set, the two-time major champion looked out of gas in both the physical and mental departments.

Britain’s Andy Murray returns the ball to Spain’s Rafael Nadal during their round robin match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London, Britain, 18 November 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

“Obviously when he’s inside the court he’s extremely, extremely good,” Murray said of Nadal. “He can move his forehand around very well. He can use all the angles on the court and make you do a lot of moving.

“He’s clearly playing better tennis now than a few months ago. Also I didn’t help myself out there today. I served (at an) extremely low percentage (43 percent). That’s not good enough against someone as good as Rafa.”

“(It) is an important victory, obviously, because that put me in a good position to try to be in the semifinals, and at the same time I [had] a big day against a great player [on] a tough surface,” Nadal explained.

“It’s just another step for me be able to play at that level against such a great player. (It) is good news. Happy for that. Just want to try to keep working the same way to keep confirming that I am (going) in the completely right direction.”

Speaking of the right direction, an aggressive Nadal ventured into the net 13 times and won 11 of those points.

“I go to the net when I am confident,” he explained. “I go to the net when I am hitting the ball well; when I’m able to play aggressive. When that happens (it) is because I am playing well.”

This is the first time the former world No. 1 has beaten two top-4 players at the same tournament since Rome in 2013.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates after defeating Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in their singles Ilie Nastase group match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, ATP London, Rafael Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis, World Tour Finals

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

November 18, 2015 at 11:08 am

#Tennis News – We Are Seeing The @RafaelNadal Of Old Return In The #WorldTourFinals Beatdown Of Murray By @Dimonator
https://t.co/q0Fq5c146f
Dimonator says:

November 18, 2015 at 11:27 am

RT @10sBalls_com: #Tennis News – We Are Seeing The @RafaelNadal Of Old Return In The #WorldTourFinals Beatdown Of Murray By @Dimonator
http…
ReyesMajal says:

November 18, 2015 at 11:40 am

RT @10sBalls_com: #Tennis News – We Are Seeing The @RafaelNadal Of Old Return In The #WorldTourFinals Beatdown Of Murray By @Dimonator
http…