18th time the charm for Rafael Nadal at ATP Finals?
ATP
A title at the final ATP event of the season is one that Rafael Nadal would certainly want to add to his collection after failing to win so many times before.
The ATP Finals is an event where every year only the eight best players qualify. Therefore, it is not a surprise that the 22-time Grand Slam champion qualified for this event 17 times but played only on 10 occasions.
However, despite trying over and over again, Nadal never managed to win the ATP Finals. On the other hand, his big rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer triumphed plenty of times at this event, which was previously held in cities like Shanghai and London before it moved to Turin last year.
This year, the Spaniard has one of his last chances, if not the last, to win a title at the ATP Finals.
Before the event in Paris, he admitted that he was not chasing the World No. 1 spot in the ATP Rankings, but after landing in Turin, Nadal admitted that he would like to add a title from the ATP Finals to his collection.
The draw for the 2022 ATP Finals was quite fortunate for the Spaniard, who is the highest-seeded player at the event after his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz withdrew due to an injury.
He avoided all former champions of the event, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Daniil Medvedev, as they all got drawn into the same group.
On the other hand, Nadal is facing players who don’t have experience with the year-end competition, such as Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz.
Moreover, the 22-time Grand Slam champion showed numerous times this season that he can still play very solid tennis on the hard courts, and a change of venue can be just beneficial for him.
Considering that his group is not as strong as it could be, he has a very high chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. Then, it’s just a matter of two more matches that will stand between Nadal and the ATP Finals title.
Can he win it? He certainly can. But will he do it? It will certainly be more difficult after his opening loss to Taylor Fritz, but it's surely still possible for the Spaniard.
