Rafael Nadal admits he was lucky to beat Daniil Medvedev after battling back from the brink in ATP Finals

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Joe Krishnan13 November 2019

Rafael Nadal admitted he was 'lucky' to beat Daniil Medvedev after an incredible fightback kept him in contention to qualify for the last four at the ATP Finals.

The world no1 looked dead and buried at 1-5 and a match point down in the final set after another thrilling contest at the O2 Arena.

Having already lost to Alexander Zverev in his tournament opener, Nadal was on the verge of crashing out if he was beaten by Medvedev. But the 33-year-old snatched an astonishing victory from the jaws of defeat in the final-set tiebreak to send the Russian out of the tournament instead.

Despite his sensational comeback, Nadal was quick to dismiss any talk of it being one of the finest in his career, instead challenging himself to produce a better performance in his final match against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

"No, no it's not one of the best performance of my career. Not at all. I really hope that I can play better," Nadal said in his post-match press conference.

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"I was better than the other day, of course. I have been playing a better level of tennis than the first day in general terms. To win this match is a combination of a lot of things: luck, some mistakes of Daniil and some good moments of myself at the end.

"But knowing that I was not able to practice the way that I would like before the tournament, to then be able to increase the level since two days ago to today like this is a very positive thing and I'm very happy with this. Win or lose is another story."

Having sealed the victory, the 19-time Grand Slam winner was notably less celebratory than he has been in previous matches of this magnitude and his close relationship with the no. 4 seed was perhaps a factor in this.

Having been so close to victory, the Spaniard paid tribute to Medvedev and added the 23-year-old should be "proud" of his display.

"Daniil is super tough mentally," he said. "He showed everybody during all this year what he achieved. If you are not able to be very solid mentally, it is impossible.

"Today is one of these days that, as I said on the court, one time out of a thousand you win this match, and it happened today. I'm very happy for that, but very sorry for him, honestly, because to lose a match like this is tough and painful.

Action Images via Reuters

"I feel very sorry for Daniil. He's a good guy, I think, and he should be very proud about all the things that he's doing."

When asked about how he felt at 1-5 down, Nadal admitted he thought his hopes of staying in the tournament were over. "In that moment, what you think is probably in five minutes you are in the locker room because that's the more normal thing," he added.

"In that moment, you play with not much pressure because you know you've nearly lost. I played a great point [at match point] and then I was able to save that game. Even with 5-2, it is so difficult to think about a comeback against a player like Daniil. And especially indoors. On clay, still you have more chances because normally you play more points. But here, you are in his hands.

"But at 5-3, of course I started to believe because being only one break away, why not? I needed to be there. I needed to create the moment and I needed to put the pressure on him.

"I think I played a good game at 5-2. I created that pressure on him. And then of course he made couple of mistakes. But I think I played a good tiebreak later, too."

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