‘I’m thrilled to play in Toronto again, and would love to defend title’

After an prolonged clay marketing campaign and a tricky Roland Garros loss to Novak Djokovic within the semis, Rafael Nadal felt like he wanted extra time to relaxation forward of his subsequent encounters. The 20-time Main winner determined to skip Wimbledon and the Olympic Video games in Tokyo, staying at dwelling in Mallorca and getting ready for the North American hard-court swing.

Rafa will return to motion in Washington within the first week of August and can enter the Canada Open every week later, looking for the third straight crown at this occasion. Nadal was the participant to beat in Toronto and Montreal in 2018 and 2019, hoping for one more robust run in a month.

In 2010, Nadal misplaced to Andy Murray within the semi-final in Toronto, and he did not play in that metropolis till 2018. Making a robust comeback as world no. 1, Nadal secured the thirty third Masters 1000 crown and his eightieth ATP title following a 6-2, 7-6 conquer Stefanos Tsitsipas within the ultimate.

The younger Greek beat 4 top-10 rivals to enter the title conflict, changing into the youngest participant with that many consecutive wins over the gamers from the unique group.

Rafael Nadal will attempt to defend his Toronto title in August.

Tsitsipas gave his finest within the second set towards Nadal, pulling a break again and making a set level on the return in sport 12.

Rafa misplaced the bottom within the match’s closing phases regardless of a pearless efficiency earlier than serving for the victory at 5-4 when Tsitsipas broke again to increase the encounter and nearly ship it right into a decider. In the long run, the Spaniard survived the twelfth sport and clinched the tie break 7-4 to elevate his nineteenth ATP title on arduous and the primary because the 2018 US Open.

Rafa cannot wait to compete in Toronto once more, praising the occasion and hoping to chase the third consecutive Canada Open crown. “I am thrilled to return to Canada and play in Toronto. It is a incredible match, and I’ve had some actually nice matches there.

As a matter of reality, I gained there the final time we performed, and I might like to defend my title this August and be once more with my followers in Canada and around the globe,” Rafael Nadal stated.