Murray, Nadal, Rublev, the Davis Cup - what we learned in Abu Dhabi
Three days of top tennis in Abu Dhabi. The Mubadala World Tennis Championships also provided some insight into the Davis Cup.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Dec 19, 2021, 09:46 am
The three-day tennis break in Abu Dhabi came to an end yesterday, Saturday, with Andrey Rublev's victory against Andy Murray. That’s it first of all with top-class tennis matches. The next one will only be available at the ATP Cup in Sydney in early 2022. Which gives us a little time to ponder what we learned from the Mubadala World Tennis Championships.
A Davis Cup final in Abu Dhabi? Yes but …
A few days ago it seemed already agreed that the final round for the Davis Cup next year would move from Madrid to Abu Dhabi. Then there must have been resistance to the ambitious plan behind the scenes, at least the ITF did not want to announce last Sunday where the game will be played in 2022. The charm of Abu Dhabi would lie in the certainly generous financial compensation for the ITF and thus the associations. And in the fact that a Davis Cup final could also be played in the open air again.
On the other hand, the requirement this year was that the venues Turin and Innsbruck were located at least approximately at the same altitude as Madrid. If the final rounds before Abu Dhabi are held in up to four different cities in 2022, the choice of location could be difficult. Unless you find venues that can also offer outdoor tennis.
Andy Murray wants to put it on offensively
But Abu Dhabi was also a test run for Andy Murray and Jan de Witt. Judging by the results, this collaboration could also bear fruit in the future. Murray won against Daniel Evans and Rafael Nadal , played in the final against Andrey Rublev despite a break deficit in the second set again until a tiebreaker.
Noticeable: The new idea in Murray's approach to play could be to shorten the rallies significantly. The three-time major winner appeared astonishingly often on the Internet, sometimes even after unsuccessful preparatory attempts.
Andrey Rublev is the marathon man
Andrey Rublev played 76 singles and 31 doubles games during the 2021 season. And then played golf for two or three days. These were obviously enough for Rublev to regain his strength. Against Murray, the Russian made a little hitch towards the end of the second set, but then won the tie-break without any threat. And now? Rublev has almost exactly two weeks in which to relax a little after all. At the ATP Cup, which starts on January 1, 2022, he will be challenged again immediately.
Striking in Abu Dhabi, by the way: Although Rublev and Murray are dressed by different outfitters, the two finalists managed to get to the final almost like twins: very dark, black trousers, plus a top that is probably in a dark pastel green is correctly described.
Rafael Nadal still needs time
In autumn 2021, Rafael Nadal also devoted himself to other things than the tennis court, the matador was seen more often than usual on his yacht. Nadal had played the last match before Abu Dhabi in Washington, a while ago. No wonder, then, that the Spaniard did not run after some balls with the same verve on his two appearances against Murray and Denis Shapovalov as he would have done in a round of 16 match with a major.
It does not matter anyway. There is almost a whole month left before the Australian Open. And Rafa also called for fine tuning at a preparatory tournament in Melbourne.