Rafael Nadal is chasing the first Nitto ATP Finals title of his legendary career at the end-of-year tournament at the O2 Arena in London.
Nadal played in two title matches at the ATP Finals in 2010 and 2013 and won just two indoor titles in Madrid 2005 (after coming back from two sets down against Ivan Ljubicic) and Sao Paulo in 2013 (when the tournament was held on indoor clay surface). In 2010 he lost the final against Roger Federer 6-3 3-6 6-1. Three years later he was beaten by Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-4. The Spanish legend has claimed 86 ATP Tour titles and claimed his 13th Roland Garros trophy equalling Roger Federer’s Grand Slam titles record with his 20th Major title.
“We can find excuses or reasons, but at the end of the day, the numbers are the numbers. I think I played less indoors than on the other surfaces, without a doubt. The indoor surfaces have not been the ideal surfaces for my tennis game since the beginning of my career. I think I am able to play a little better in the past couple of years indoors than I did at the beginning of my tennis career without a doubt, but these are the numbers. I can’t say something different. I hope to change that this week”, said Nadal.
Nadal still hopes that the surface of the tournament could change one day.
“One day there will be a moment in history when the tournament surface could change”.
Nadal has qualified for the ATP Finals for a record consecutive 16th time in his career but he was able to play this tournament ten times. He has been forced to skip the ATP Finals four times, when the tournament was held in London. He often cited fatigue after a long season.
The world number 2 player beat Feliciano Lopez, Jordan Thompson and Pablo Carreno Busta to get through to his fifth semifinal in eight appearances at the Paris Bercy Masters 1000 tournament in his only indoor tournament of the season. Nadal secured the 1000th Tour-level win of his career, becoming the fourth man to reach this milestone with a come-back three-set win over Feliciano Lopez in Paris Bercy second round.
Nadal has been drawn in the London 2020 group with 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem, reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and 2020 five-time ATP Tour champion Andrey Rublev, who won titles in Doha, Acapulco, Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Vienna.
Nadal is grateful that the ATP Finals are held despite the disappointment of playing without spectators due to the pandemic.
“We are in the hotel next to the O2, different conditions. We cannot even walk from the hotel which is 200 metres away so we are very lucky to be able to keep playing our sport, that’s the only thing I can say. I cannot be negative. I say thanks to the ATP, thanks to the tournaments, thanks to the Grand Slams to make that happen. I think that these are very challenging conditions of course especially playing with no crowd in this amazing stadium. It’s something that is not perfect but we can play tennis, so we cannot complain at all, we are very lucky”.