Roger Federer has won the fan favorite ATP award 19 times in a row between 2003 and 2021! The Swiss legend retired in September after his arch-rival took the award from him. For the first time in his career, Rafael Nadal is the winner of the 2022 Fans’ Favorite Award.
Rafa is one of the players to beat in 2022, having won two Grand Slam titles and stands alone at 22, one ahead of Novak Djokovic. Additionally, the veteran finished the year in the top 2, becoming the oldest player in the group.
Nadal has a chance to be number one in the world. No. 1 in the second half of the season, winning the Australian and French Opens and leading the ATP tournaments until August. However, the Spaniard has battled injuries since Wimbledon and has failed to reach the ATP throne after finishing the season with four ATP titles.
Rafa missed the second half of 2021 due to a foot injury and made a perfect comeback this year.
Rafael Nadal wins the fan favorite ATP award for the first time.
The Spaniard claimed his first Australian Open title in 13 years and picked up another trophy in Acapulco.
Rafa’s first setback came at Indian Wells, where he suffered a broken rib and suffered his first loss of the season in the title fight with Tyler Fritz. The veteran missed his favorite games in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and lost key points in the year-end No. 1 race.
1 battle. Rafa returned to action in May but failed to impress in Madrid and Rome. He suffered an early loss and that cast a dark cloud over his chances at the French Open. A foot injury plagued him again and Nadal needed injections to withstand all the effort in Paris.
The king of clay was in full swing again, beating Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kaspar Ruud to claim his 14th French Open title. Despite tearing his stomach 7mm, Rafa was hoping for more at Wimbledon, but he made it to the semi-finals.
The Spaniard beat Tyler Fritz in five sets in the quarter-finals and withdrew before a clash with Nick Kyrgios. Nadal needed months to recover, and from the first few months he couldn’t find his rhythm anymore. He lost to Francis Tiafoe early in the U.S. Open, missing out on a chance to become world No. 1.
1. Rafa was out for two months before returning at the Paris Masters. Nadal lost to Tommy Paul in the second round after a set and breakup. The Spaniard, keen to play more before the end of the year, reached his 11th ATP Finals, where he lost to Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliasim.
No rhythm, no encounters, Rafa lost key points and ushered in his first four-game losing streak since the end of 2009! The legend changed that in the final game of the season, beating Kaspar Rudd 7-5, 7-5 for his first victory as a father and ending with victory this season.
