Nadal wins Mubadala World Tennis Championship for fourth time

With this victory, Nadal capped off a tough year in his career, where he had to spend more time under rehab than on the court. The Spaniard had to stay away from his favourite court Roland Garros after the second round of the French Open and also missed the year-ending Grand Slam Wimbledon due to injury concerns. But just weeks before the Australian Open, Nadal showed glimpses of his calibre, by winning the Mubadala World Tennis Championship without much fuss.

The 30-year-old defeated Czech star Tomas Berdych in the quarter-final and big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the semi-final to enter the finals of the exhibition tournament, which saw him square-off with Belgian David Goffin, who became the crowd favourite after defeating world No.1 Andy Murray in the semi-final.  

It was the first-ever meeting between Nadal and Goffin. Goffin tried to gain the upper hand in the match, but Nadal won the first set with a superb display. The only chance for Goffin in the first set came when he was serving at 4-5. But Nadal nullified the Belgian’s attempt and won the first set 6-4.

The second set rather proved to be more dramatic. Despite Goffin creating four chances to break for 6-5, Nadal- the big time player that he is- held those to send the game to tie-breaker, in which he prevailed by 7-5 to win the title for the fourth time in his career. 

14-time Grand Slam Champion Nadal will now head to Australia for the Brisbane International, where he is slated to play against world No.62-ranked Ukrainian Alexander Dolgopolov in his first-round match at Tennyson.