ATP: Pablo Carreno Busta has clear goals after his strong year

Pablo Carreno Busta played the best season of his career. The 26-year-old Spaniard was crowned by a visit to the Nitto ATP Finals in London, where he was also used twice. But next year he also has plans for the next year.

By Florian Heer from London

“In his last press conference of the year, Pablo Carreno Busta smiled at the question of how his compatriot Rafael Nadal will fight next season when two heavyweights, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, will return to the ATP World Tour.

The 26-year-old Spaniard had not lost his sense of humour, even though he had to face Grigor Dimitrov from Bulgaria in the final group game of the Nitto ATP Finals.

However, there was no good reason for this. Carreno Busta has had an impeccable season. After Rafael Nadal withdrew after his first group match due to injury, Rafael Nadal was also allowed to sniff the air in the o2-arena as a substitute for the first time. The week before, Jack Sock had literally snatched his place at the start in the British capital, which he might have believed to be safe, by winning the Rolex Paris Masters all but unexpectedly, literally at the last second.

“Actually, I’ve come to London to prepare for the next season. We didn’t know if Rafa would be fit enough to compete, but in the end he played. It was unexpected that I was finally allowed to step in. Of course, these are not the best conditions for success.”

Carreno Busta offered a hard fight in his first appearance against Dominic Thiem, but had to admit defeat in three sets. Only once in seven games against the Austrian, the Spaniard left the table as the winner. Carreno Busta defeated Thiem in his first ever ATP-Challenger final in 2013 on Sand in Como, Italy. For the curly-head who lives and trains in Barcelona, it was the sixth Challenger triumph back then. And from then on he set out to establish himself at the top of the world.

After winning his first two ATP World Tour titles on the hard courts in Winston-Salem and Moscow last year, his best season so far was 2017.

“At the beginning of the year, my goal was to reach the top 20,”Carreno Busta told me in London. Eventually, he will finish the year among the world’s top ten players. A further title win at the sand court tournament in Estoril, Portugal, and moving into the last eight in Roland Garros helped to achieve this outstanding result.

The highlight of the year, however, took place in New York as the right-hander advanced to the semi-finals of the US Open, but finally had to admit defeat against the South African Kevin Anderson.

“The next step is to establish himself in the top 10,”he stated as the direction for the new season. Carreno Busta, who will be coached by Samuel López from Juan Carlos Ferrero’s academy, will start the year at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, followed by another appearance in the Doha desert before heading to the Australian Open. And who knows, maybe he will become one of the most important challengers for the very greats of the scene.