There aren't many tournaments that Rafael Nadal hasn't won in his tennis career, but there is still one that he wishes he had won.
The Spanish player is the most successful clay-court tennis player of all time and is the reason why many great clay-court players have never won certain trophies on red dirt.
For example, Nadal lifted the Monte-Carlo Masters trophy 11 times, the Italian Open title 10 times, and, of course, the Roland Garros trophy an incredible 14 times.
But there were also tournaments where he was not so successful, mostly because of the grass-court and hardcourt dominance of his two rivals, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal has "only" two Wimbledon and two Australian Open trophies, and he has never won a title at the Miami Open or the Paris Masters. He often also missed these tournaments, as he struggled with injuries, but also prioritized the clay-court part of the season.
The Spaniard competed at the Paris Masters only nine times, reaching one final and four other semi-finals, but never lifting the trophy. But there is one other tournament, which he played eleven times, but never won.
One title that always evaded the Spaniard was the ATP Finals crown. In fact, Nadal has the worst winning percentage at the ATP Finals out of all tournaments that are in the ATP Masters 1000 category or higher.
In his career, he played 39 matches at the event and won only 21. He reached two finals and four semi-finals and was eliminated in the round-robin stage of the tournament five times. In a recent interview with The National, Nadal admitted that's the one tournament he wishes he had won.
"Of course I would like to have won the ATP Finals one time, that’s probably the only important event that I never won. But that’s it."
Nadal is also aware of the reasons why he never succeeded at the ATP Finals. The tournament was never played on the clay courts, which significantly decreased his chances. On top of that, he often struggled with injuries at the end of the seasons.
"I was a little bit unlucky that at the end of the season, I was not in my best shape physically. A lot of time with injuries. Then I had very difficult rivals in front, and I played all my career ATP Finals in indoor fast courts, on indoor hard, and at the beginning indoor carpet."
Nadal often emphasizes that he is happy with his career, which is why he also didn't want to sound like he was complaining. He is happy with his career, even though he would have wanted to have one ATP Finals title to his name.
"But nothing to complain. If you ask me what I would have liked to win, of course I would love to have one of these. I had my chances; I was not able to convert them. That’s fine."
