How competitive will Nadal be to start the tournament?
Rafael Nadal is undoubtedly one of the most successful tennis players, if not the most successful athlete in this sport of all time. The bull from Manacor has already won 22 Grand Slam titles in singles.
In addition to winning the overall title at the 2008 Olympic Games, the Majorcan still lacks one title: Rafael Nadal has never won the ATP Finals before.
Accordingly, the Spaniard has set his sights high for the 53rd staging of the year-end tournament, which is currently being held at the Pala Alpitour in Turin for the second time in a row. Also in view of the fact that he was able to avoid both Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic with the luck of the draw in the preliminary round, the betting on the Mallorcan’s opening win is under a good star for Rafael Nadal against Taylor Fritz.
However, it should not be underestimated that the now 36-year-old superstar has been repeatedly set back by injuries in 2022. Moreover, the recent baby luck in the Nadal household ensured that the Bull of Manacor has only played three tournaments since his withdrawal from the Wimbledon Championships due to injury.
It is therefore to be expected that his American challenger will see a great opportunity in this match and throw everything into it. In this context, the forecast for Rafael Nadal against Taylor Fritz that at least one set will be decided in a tiebreak is worth a lot. By the way, this bet can also be replayed from mobile devices.
Rafael Nadal – statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 2
Position in the seedings: 1
The 36-year-old Spaniard Rafael Nadal made a spectacular start to the 2022 season when he won the Australian Open for the first time in 13 years. It was only the second overall victory ever in Melbourne for the bull from Manacor.
Immediately afterwards, “Mr. French Open” celebrated his 14th Grand Slam victory at Roland Garros, bringing his total number of singles Grand Slams to an incredible 22.
Winning the Wimbledon quarter-finals as the break in the season
Who knows whether Grand Slam trophy number 23 might even have been added at Wimbledon if he hadn’t had to throw in the towel after winning the quarter-finals due to injury. Curiously, he narrowly beat his current opponent Taylor Fritz 3:2 after a hard-fought five-setter.
The Wimbledon Championships also marked a break in the 2022 season for the Majorcan. Rafa then took part in only three more tournaments. While at the Western & Southern Open and last week at the Paris Masters he was eliminated in his opening match, Nadal only reached the round of 16 at the US Open.
Won 38 of 44 singles in 2022
However, the comparatively weak second half of the year does not detract from the annual record of the world number two, who tops the seedings list at the ATP Finals due to Carlos Alcaraz’s injury. 38 victories from 44 singles matches is still an absolute record.
Nevertheless, the odds on Rafael Nadal against Taylor Fritz are by no means unconditionally in favour of the Spaniard, who, as a new father, has had other worries recently. But the fact that Nadal, the mentality monster, has never won the ATP Finals before makes the Majorcan all the more dangerous this year.
Taylor Fritz – Statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 9
Position in the seedings: 8
This year, 25-year-old American Taylor Fritz is the big beneficiary of the fact that current world number one Carlos Alcaraz is unable to compete at the 2022 ATP Finals due to injury.
As number nine in the current ranking, the player from San Diego slipped up. For Fritz, who won a major title for the first time in 2022 at the Indian Wells Masters with a 2-0 victory over Rafael Nadal, of all people, it is the first participation in the big year-end tournament.
Won 43 of 62 singles in 2022
The 25-year-old looks back on a very successful season in which 43 wins from 62 singles matches were enough for a total of three titles. In addition to the Major title at the Indian Wells Masters, Fritz also secured the overall victory at the grass court tournament in Eastbourne and just recently in October at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
Three of his only four singles titles on the ATP Tour were won by the American in the 2022 season, which means that with Rafael Nadal against Taylor Fritz, it is by no means unrealistic to expect the 25-year-old to make a successful start to the ATP Finals.
44.4% of all duels with top 10 players in 2022 won
After all, Taylor Fritz beat the bull from Manacor in the final of the Indian Wells Masters 2:0 (6:3 and 7:6) and demanded everything from the 22-time Grand Slam champion in the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships 2022.
The American’s recent run in Tokyo and his yearly record against other top 10 players underline that he could sustain his place in the top 10 of the ATP world rankings. In 2022, Fritz won four out of nine such duels, bringing his win percentage to a remarkable 44.4%.
Rafael Nadal – Taylor Fritz Direct comparison / H2H record
Head to head: 2:1
The two players have faced each other a total of three times so far and the only clear-cut one was their first duel in the ATP Acapulco 2020 final, which Rafael Nadal won 2-0. In the current year, Taylor Fritz returned the favour with a 2-0 win in the Indian Wells final before the Manacor bull prevailed 3-2 in a five-set thriller in the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Rafael Nadal – Taylor Fritz Tip
Generally, it is known that the American will make his debut at the ATP Finals in good form. After all, the 25-year-old just won the Japan Open in Tokyo, while the 36-year-old Spaniard only played six singles in the second half of the season, of which he lost half of all matches. Accordingly, it is difficult to make a prediction on the outcome of Rafael Nadal’s opening match against Taylor Fritz.
With a view to the fact that both close matches between the two athletes in 2022 required tiebreaks to determine the winner, we are betting on over 0.5 tiebreaks in the opening match now as well.
