Nadal: I was lucky to win

An ailing Rafael Nadal admitted he was fortunate to begin his Barclays ATP World Tour Finals campaign with a victory after coming through a near three-hour tussle against Mardy Fish in London on Sunday night.

There were question marks over the world number two’s form going into the match - his first since losing to Florian Mayer in Shanghai a month ago – and those remain following a 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7/3) win at the O2.

It was Nadal’s health that was the biggest concern in the third set as he took a lengthy toilet break and continued to look a little green around the gills.

The Spaniard said: “It was a very important victory for me, for the confidence, to start the tournament with positive feelings.

“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.”

Nadal added of his stomach problems: “I feel not very well now. I really need to get back to the hotel and rest a little bit because I played for one hour suffering a lot.”

It was a match that really did have everything. Fish started slowly and dropped his serve straight away, while in contrast Nadal looked sharp and another break set him on his way to a comfortable first set.

The American knew he had to take the fight to Nadal if he was going to turn things round and he did just that at the start of the second set, breaking at the first opportunity and moving 3-0 ahead.

He saw several chances to increase his lead pass him by and then had to save a break point before finally levelling the match on his fifth set point.

It was in the decider where the match really came into its own as Nadal raced into a 2-0 lead then raced off to the bathroom.

The American responded with two successive breaks but then back came Nadal and, although both men had further chances, including two match points for the second seed, they needed a tie-break to split them.

In truth it was a bit of an anti-climax, Fish never recovering from a poor start, and Nadal took the first of three more match points when his opponent netted a volley.

The Spaniard apologised to Fish and the crowd for his hasty departure from the court, but the O2 debutant had no complaints.

“With him you’re not really going to get anything extra-curricular,” said Fish. “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.”

Fish’s preparations for his first appearance at the end-of-season showpiece had been badly affected by a hamstring injury but, although he felt it was a factor in his slow start, he is confident it will hold out for the rest of the week.

The 29-year-old said: “Physically I felt pretty good. I haven’t practised that much, so it hasn’t been ideal preparation for an event like this.

“But that’s not an excuse. I was right there. That wasn’t the reason that I lost. I didn’t play a great tie-breaker – he did. That was pretty much the difference.”

Nadal’s victory meant his second Group B match on Tuesday will be against the day’s other winner, his old rival Roger Federer, who beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 2-6 6-4 in the opening singles clash.

The Swiss made it 13 victories in a row after back-to-back titles in Basle and at the Paris Masters last week, recovering from a wobble in the second set to edge a tight decider.

Nadal expects to be fit for that match but knows he has his work cut out if he is to reverse the result from last year’s final.

“It will be a challenge for me,” said the Spaniard. “He’s playing fantastic, winning two tournaments in a row, and now today. It will be a very difficult match. I will try.”

Federer admitted his Wimbledon defeat by Tsonga this summer, the first time he had ever lost at a grand slam from two sets up, had been on his mind when the Frenchman began to turn things around in the second set.

The 30-year-old said: “It’s very hard to get into any sort of rhythm against him from the baseline because he’s a very good one-two puncher, which he proved over four and a half sets against me at Wimbledon.

“Today I had flashes of that match because I didn’t have much of a chance for a while on his serve. You just try your best.”