Alex Corretja believes Rafael Nadal can win the ATP Finals
ATP
Alex Corretja believes that Rafael Nadal could win the ATP Finals, even though he has historically struggled at the event.
Nadal is the best clay-court player in the history of the sport. There will probably never be someone who will enjoy more success on the red dirt than the Spaniard did.
At the same time, Nadal never played well on the indoor hard courts. He prefers slower conditions, like those on clay courts, and indoor conditions are usually the exact opposite.
Nadal faced Taylor Fritz in his first match at the ATP Finals this year, and he lost it in straight sets. It wasn't a good match for the Spaniard, but his compatriot, Alex Corretja, who spoke to Eurosport, believes that Nadal could succeed at the ATP Finals, also because of the format, which allows him this one loss.
"The good thing about the ATP finals is that you have at least three matches to compete and you can lose one match and you can still win the tournament."
"So that gives you extra room to win the tournament. When Rafa gets the rhythm, we know that he is one of the toughest or the toughest opponents to play."
Corretja also admitted that Nadal was lucky to avoid both Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in his group. That immediately increased his chances, but he might face one of them in the semi-finals if he makes it there.
"He's got more experience, he's got head to head, big time in his favour in all of them. So you go on court thinking that you are the boss and that always helps."
"And if you would have Djokovic or Medvedev in his group, for him it would have been tougher to win these matches in the first few days of the tournament. If he faced these opponents in the semi finals or finals, he will definitely be more ready."
