For a moment, it seemed Rafael Nadal was not sure how to react. He looked across the net at his pesky opponent, raised an arm and then, with head bowed, walked to shake hands with the chair umpire and Fabio Fognini, the losing Hamburg finalist.
Emotion, however, soon got the better of the Spaniard and, arms stretched, he slid across the red dirt on his knees, screaming. Having vented, he got up smiling like the Rafa of old. That moment said it all.
Nadal had taken a gamble by coming to Hamburg for a clay-court tournament, when he could have been in North America preparing for the summer hard-court swing. Another loss on clay could have destroyed his confidence.
The gamble paid off. The title added 410 ranking points to his total and boosted his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending championship. Nadal is defending only 190 points from here until the end of the season, so there is not much to lose.
Also, the win should have raised Nadal’s confidence by a few notches. First, because he maintained his record of winning at least one title on European clay courts every year since 2005. Second, because he has a win over Fognini, the only man, other than Novak Djokovic, to beat him twice on clay in a season.
The Italian was responsible for two of Nadal's six defeats on clay this year and revenge must have been sweet. Now, he will be looking to settle a few more scores as he tries to show he is not a spent force among the game's elite.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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