Rafael Nadal dumped out of ATP World Tour Finals

Rafael Nadal’s quest for a long-awaited first ATP World Tour Finals title ended at the round robin stage after defeat to Felix Auger Aliassime and further results going against him.

Nadal, seeded first at the event, needed to beat the Canadian having lost to Taylor Fritz in straight sets in his opening match.

The Spaniard was unable to do so, losing out 6-3 6-4 to Auger Aliassime and his elimination was confirmed after Casper Ruud won the first set in his match against Fritz later that evening.

Ruud would go onto win the match 6-3 4-6 7-6 (6) to seal his place in the semi-finals.

Auger Aliassime, who has won three ATP titles during the autumn swing, picked up his maiden win at the end of year event after losing to Ruud two days earlier.

‘’I think having one match here, I got used to the conditions on centre court,’’ he said in his on-court interview.

‘’I felt my game was better today. I was hitting it with more consistency and quality. When I am playing like this, I have proven I can compete and beat some of the best players in the world.’’

Nadal’s elimination from the competition in Turin also confirms Carlos Alcaraz as the year end number one.

This is the first time that someone other than Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray will finish the year at the top of the men’s rankings since Andy Roddick in 2003.

Rafael Nadal was disappointed in falling to a 0-2 record in his opening two matches in Turin but looked to focus on the positives.

‘’Couple of positive things. I was able to play two tournaments in the past three weeks. That’s the positive thing, something that I was not able to do for a while,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion vowed to fight as hard as possible to recapture the form that saw him win the first two grand slams of the year and four tour-level titles overall.

‘’I don’t know if I am going to reach that level again. But what I don’t have any doubt is that I am going to die for it.’’

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