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The ATP Finals are set to kick off this weekend, marking the last tournament of the 2026 season.
Two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner will not be in action in Turin this year due to a knee injury that he has been dealing with since the Wimbledon final. The man he beat in the final last season, Carlos Alcaraz, will be featuring, however, and is looking to get his hands on the prestigious trophy for the first time in his career.
Novak Djokovic holds the record for the most ATP Finals titles in history with seven to his name, followed by Roger Federer with six. The longtime rival of those two, Rafael Nadal, did not triumph once at the ATP Finals, though.
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Nadal reached the championship match at the ATP Finals on two occasions, the first of which came back in 2010. He forced eventual champion Federer to a third and final set that year, but the Swiss ultimately came out on top.
The legendary Spaniard returned to the final in 2013, but this time lost to Djokovic in straight sets. After that defeat, Nadal made five more appearances at the ATP Finals and made the semifinals twice, but did not advance to the final for the remainder of his career.
After beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round robin of the 2019 edition of the ATP Finals, Nadal was not yet sure if he would qualify for the knockout stage, as he needed other results to go his way. He suffered a heavy defeat to Alexander Zverev in his first match of the event, which he played not long after picking up an injury at the Paris Masters.
In a press conference following the win over Tsitsipas, Nadal said: “Honestly, if I am not in that semifinals, is not like when you lose the tournament, a normal tournament, because at some point is a different feeling, you know. I know how I arrived here. I know the preparation have been very short for me and not the ideal one after the injury in Bercy.
“So for me was important to give me a chance to compete better than what I did the first day. The first day have been a tough day. I think in general terms I was ready to play a little bit better but indoor, and it’s true that I only played one normal set before the tournament start, the day before, no?
“So preparation has been very short, and it’s the worst tournament possible to arrive at without the best preparation possible, because in other tournaments sometimes you can be a little bit more lucky with the draw. You can win two matches, and then you have a tough one, but you will be more ready, more prepared for it, no?
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“But here, the first day you play one of the best players of the world in a tough surface, so if you don’t arrive with plenty of confidence on your body and your movements and everything, things become much more difficult, no? And I think that’s what happened. Then I think I have been improving on my tennis every day.
“Look, if I’m not in that semifinals, I go to Madrid with positive confidence that I am playing better and better. For me was important, more than being in that semifinals or not, of course I would love to be, is to go from here with the feeling that I did all the things possible to be there and to finalise the ATP year with a positive feeling, no? And that’s what I did, because I think I played a good match today.”
Nadal enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career in 2019, winning both Roland Garros and the US Open, as well as the Italian Open and the Canadian Open. He finished that season by competing at the Davis Cup, where he won each of his singles matches for Spain in straight sets.
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Esta notícia foi originalmente publicada em: Fonte original