Rafael Nadal was left breathing a huge sigh of relief after coming through a titanic opener against Mardy Fish on Sunday night at the ATP World Tour Finals.
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The crowds at the O2 Arena could not have wished for a better exhibition of tennis on day one as the event exploaded into life with back to back three setters. Nadal and Fish treated spectators to three hours of high octane drama as they battled to join Roger Federer at the top of Group B.
Eventually it was the Spaniard who emerged unscathed, winning 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) but he felt highly fortunate to prevail after looking down and out at the start of the third set.
After a nervy start to the match, Fish got his game going in set two, using his presence at the net to unsettle Nadal and square things up at one set apiece. Nadal ripped a passing shot to break at the start the decider but then the world number two turned deathly pale and had to dash from the court, apparently suffering from a stomach upset.
Fish reeled off three games in a row and looked to be in the driving seat but he couldn't apply the killer blow. Predictably Nadal came back strongly and Fish had to save match points on his serve at 4-5. He clung on to force the tiebreak but Nadal made a storming start and from there on, the result was never in doubt.
"It was a very important victory for me, for the confidence, to start the tournament with positive feelings," Nadal told a packed press conference. "I think I played a very good first set. The second was hard. I made a big mistake when it was 40-15 for me (in the second game). That gave him a lot of confidence and after that all the match was close. The third set was a little bit more crazy, up and down. But I felt very bad in the stomach from the beginning of the third. I was seriously really lucky for the victory."
"With him you're not really going to get anything extra-curricular," Fish commented when asked about Nadal's unscheduled bathroom break in the decider. "So I just assumed that he wasn't feeling well. We've all been there. I have a ton of respect for him. He wins more grand slams than I've won tournaments, so I'm willing to wait for him as long as he wants."
