Rafael Nadal’s debut season in the International Premier Tennis League came to an end this past weekend, but not before he positioned his Indian Aces team extremely well for a berth in the championship match. Nadal capped off his week in style, as the Aces cruised past Roger Federer and the UAE Royals on Saturday night.
Playing in New Dehli, the home team put up a perfect 30 by taking six games in all five of the sets. Nadal played a part in two of those victorious sets, beating Roger Federer in singles after teaming up with Rohan Bopanna to defeat Federer and Marin Cilic in doubles. The 14-time major champion won his doubles match 6-4 and got the best of Federer in a tiebreaker.
Nadal twice gave back a break during the singles set and Federer also recovered from 15-40 down while serving to get into a ‘breaker at 4-5. Although they were playing in the Aces’ home, nobody could have been disappointed when a tiebreaker had to decide it–especially not one fan who wielded a “Federer is better than Free WiFi” sign.
“I’m happy to play here against Roger and the crowd gave us a lot of love,” Nadal commented. “I played here one day before, so in a sense I had an advantage. But playing Roger is always exciting.”
The fifth-ranked Spaniard will now go back to the practice court, as he awaits Joao Sousa’s arrival in Mallorca for a week of training. As for Federer, he will play the final two legs of the IPTL–Dubai and then Singapore.
“I had a slow start and Rafa already played a match here,” the 34-year-old Swiss assessed. “The season’s just beginning, so I’m bound to be a bit rusty. Considering those circumstances, I played pretty well. Overall it was a great experience. I play in Dubai on 15th and 16th, followed by Singapore on 18th.”
Federer has some work to do if he wants his team to find a way into the championship match in Singapore. The Royals are currently third in the standings with 49.6 percent of their games won. They trail the Singapore Slammers (51.0 percent) for the all-important second spot.
Nadal and the Aces have won a dominant 57.7 percent of their games for a huge lead on the table.
Rafa departed the IPTL with a smile. 🙂
Video by IPTL 2015: “Rafa Nadal talks about his IPTL experience”:
Description of the video: “Rafa Nadal is all smiles after his win over Roger Federer and looks back upon the wonderful experience he had in IPTL2 before departing.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRxvstb9lxM
—Although they were playing in the Aces’ home, nobody could have been disappointed when a tiebreaker had to decide it.—
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Nobody? I doubt it. Most of the fans cheered for Rafa!
The Times of India, Dec. 12, 2015: ¤¤ IPTL: Federer, Nadal steal limelight as Aces tops Royals in emphatic fashion.
(An excerpt)
The surprise element of the evening was that Nadal outscored Federer when it comes to getting loudest of cheers from the astounding crowd consisting of every age group ranging from toddlers to oldies, who were screaming their heart out to make their presence felt across the stadia. ¤¤
Read more:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/…-in-emphatic-fashion/articleshow/50155235.cms
Thank you for telling us about this nice exhibition tournament.
For Rafa”s morale these victories are very important even though Federer is at the start of preparations for the new season.
I hope it will be a great season for Rafa Nadal.
Vamos!
https://site.forumul-pariorului-maniac.ro/
Rafa will beat Fed anytime, any place aside from a lightning fast indoor hard court. Exhibition, 250, 500, 1000, slam, whatever.
Sania Mirza asks:
https://twitter.com/MirzaSania/status/677082755801444352
🙂
Singapore Slammers won the championship.
From the IPTL:
https://twitter.com/iptl/status/678963696400384000
The man in glasses is Benito Pérez Barbadillo, Rafa’s PR manager.
Benny to his BFFs.
Good to see you back hawkeye. Why did you go AWOL? Aren’t you supposed to patrol /troll this site 24/7? Everyone on tennis-x is predicting Djoker will be no 1 with a big margin. You did too, I suppose. Good. That will jinx him.