Rafael Nadal will play at the ATP Finals which begins on Sunday. The 33-year-old has never won the end of season tournament despite reaching the final twice in his career. Nadal has often struggled with injuries towards the end of the season. This the current world number one will again enter the tournament with questions surrounding his fitness.
The abdominal injury
Nadal suffered an abdominal injury at the Paris Masters last week. The 19-Grand Slam champion had qualified for the semifinals in Bercy and was set to play Denis Shapovalov. However, he suffered an abdominal injury during practice. After consultation with his doctors, the Spaniard chose to withdraw from the tournament. He did not want to aggravate the injury and instead focused on being fit for the finals in London. He traveled back to Mallorca to undergo further tests on the injury.
He should be ready on Monday
The Spaniard is now in London for the finals and has practiced at the O2 Arena. His coach, Carlos Moya, has spoken about his protégé’s chances at the tournament. Carlos revealed that they were taking precautions with the Spaniard’s injury. He said that their first practice since the Paris Masters went well, although Nadal did not put a lot of power during the session. However, the 33-year-old has shown some positive signs and he should be able to compete in his first match. “His evolution is going fine. He should be ready to compete on Monday.”
The world No.1 battle vs. Djokovic
At the finals in London, Nadal will be defending his number one ranking against Novak Djokovic. The Serbian trails the 19-time Grand Slam champion by 640 points after he won his fifth title in Paris. With 1,500 points on offer, a deep run at the tournament would secure the Serbian’s his sixth end of year number one ranking. He would match Pete Sampras as the only other player to achieve the feat. Nadal, on the other hand, will hope for a fifth end of year number one and match Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Jimmy Connors’s accomplishments. The Spaniard will start his 198th week at the position next week. He will play his first match in London against last year’s winner Alexander Zverev. The two are in the same group together with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev. Novak will play against Federer, Matteo Berrettini, and Dominic Thiem in the group stages.
Prediction vs. Zverev
Rafa will face Sascha Zverev in the opening match strong of a 5-0 win-loss record. The prediction is Rafa winning in 3 sets.
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Now ranked no.1, Rafael played his last match on the 2nd of November when he had to surrender to Denis Shapovalov w/o in the semifinal in Paris.
This year the Spaniard has a 50-6 win-loss record. Rafael clinched 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Rafael was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal |
| Embed from Getty Images |
