Beating the members of the Big-3 is a dream for all NextGen gamers. After a few years on the circuit, Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime finally knew the feeling of beating Rafael Nadal, the top Grand Slam winner. After his second commitment of the week in Turin, Aliassime indicated that “it is a special victory.
It’s not easy to beat players of this caliber, so this gives me a lot of confidence. It is good to say that I have finally been able to beat Rafa and in a tournament like this, because it is not that he has beaten him in a small tournament.
I prefer to play with him here than in Rome or Paris. He knew that he had been playing well, but the loss the other day was unfortunate. Everything was very close and I felt that I had a chance to win. When you jump in to play against someone like Nadal, you never know.
Either because he can play amazing or because I don’t have the day. When the game started, I immediately began to see that I had a chance to win this. He was doing things right and I felt comfortable on certain occasions.
I always believed that he could win and it also helped that I had been playing better and that he hadn’t played many games”, he added one of the keys for Team World to win the Laver Cup title this year. Lastly, he spoke about the importance that uncle Toni Nadal had in being able to break Rafa: “We talked about the things that I need to do.
I already know Rafa. I have seen him play and I have faced him before.
Rafa Nadal praises Alcaraz
Rafael Nadal most recently occupied the World No. 1 spot in February 2020, following which this week was his best chance of getting there again.
“Probably you only heard one part of the answer. Of course, finish the season as World No. 1, it’s a great achievement. Would be an amazing achievement at this stage of my career,” Nadal said. “But on the other hand, I say that I will never be following that goal again.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion went on to congratulate Alcaraz on his inevitable year-end World No. 1 finish after that. “It’s difficult comparing and fighting against the young guys that they are super good, and at the same time they are able to play as many tournaments as they want, no? Is normal they are in the situation I was, like, 15 years ago,” Nadal said.
“Just well done for Carlos in this case. Happy for him. Big achievement for him. Well done. Yeah, great news for our sport in Spain. Yeah, he deserved after a great season.”
