Rafael Nadal paid a heartfelt tribute to those who have supported him as he was officially presented with the year-end No.1 award at the ATP Finals on Sunday.
Following Roger Federer’s win over Jack Sock, the Spaniard took to the court to receive the honour for the fourth time in his career. Nadal has managed to achieve the milestone with the help of two grand slam titles won in 2017, including a record tenth at the French Open. Heading into the season-ending competition, he has already won six titles this year. Producing a win-loss of 67-10.
“It has been a fantastic season, a very emotional one after all of the things I have been going through in the last couple of years with injury.” Nadal said during the ceremony.
“To have this trophy again is something I never thought was possible.”
The triumphant year also marks the end of an era. Nadal will be without lifetime coach Uncle Toni in the next season, who introduced him to the sport at the age of three. Toni will instead focus on working at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca. Guiding him will be Carlos Moya and Francisco Roig. All of whom have attracted praise from Nadal.
“None of this would have been possible without my team and family. Many thanks for the support. There have been tough moments but we kept believing.” He said.
Federer’s regret
One player who challenged Nadal for the accolade was Federer. The Swiss player, who has already spent 302 weeks as world No.1, relinquished his chance after withdrawing from the Paris Masters.
“He was better throughout the year. He played more tournaments. He was incredibly successful throughout.” Federer said of Nadal.
“I don’t have any regrets because I feel like in my stage of my competition, my age, either it comes to me or it doesn’t.”
Federer does express one regret in his failure to top the rankings in 2017. His roller coaster performance during the North American hard-court swing in the summer. He was denied the Canadian Masters title by Alexander Zverev before falling to Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals of the US Open.
“My only regret was I would have loved to be in contention through the Montreal finals, Cincinnati, US Open. But things evaporated very quickly after he won the US Open.”
The Injury comeback
12 months ago the story was very different for Nadal. His year-end ranking was 9th after missing the final part of the season due to a wrist injury. There have been fears of lightning striking twice after he withdrew from the Paris Masters due to a knee injury. Nadal has qualified for the ATP Finals in each of the last 13 years, but on five occasions he has been forced to withdraw from it.
Those fears have now been relieved after the world No.1 stated that he will play tomorrow against Belgium’s David Goffin during his address to fans at the O2 Arena.
“You have been a huge support during the whole year in every event. Without all of you nothing would be the same – see you tomorrow on court.” He concluded.
Nadal is bidding to become to become only the third Spanish player to win the ATP Finals after Manuel Orantes and Alex Corretja. He will take on Goffin at 20:00 GMT on Monday.
