ATP Finals: Rafael Nadal wants to try and travels to London
Rafael Nadal wants to try to compete at the ATP Finals in London, despite suffering from his abdominal muscle injury in Paris.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Nov 05, 2019, 12:32 pm
He had another visit to Mallorca on Monday, but he wants to travel to London and start training services again on Thursday or Friday.
Nadal had reached the semifinals last week at the Masters tournament in Paris, but injured his abdomen in the final training on the last serve and canceled his game against Denis Shapovalov. Playing tennis was impossible, according to Nadal in Paris. An MRI also showed an abnormality.
Despite his refusal in Paris, Nadal again took over the world rankings top of Novak Djokovic yesterday - although he won in Paris. Because the "Djoker" were already deducted the points of the ATP finals from the previous year when Djokovic had reached the final and lost there against Alexander Zverev. Nadal, by contrast, had not played in 2018 after the US Open due to injury.
Djokovic has to score in London
The starting position for the number 1 at the end of the year is also clear: Should Nadal win no game in the o2 arena (or ultimately not compete), Djokovic would have to reach at least the finals (and win two group games on the way). Should Nadal win at least two matches in the group stage, Djokovic will need the title.
The draw for the ATP Finals will take place this afternoon.
Nadal is still missing a victory in the ATP Finals in his collection of titles: The 33-year-old was in the final in 2010 and 2013, but lost to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. In recent years, Nadal often no longer occurred in London due to injury.