ATP Finals Preview: Rafael Nadal

Eight stars will battle in London at the ATP Finals starting on November 12. Baseline will preview each contender ahead of all the action.

A year ago, Rafael Nadal missed the ATP Finals after dealing with both injuries and a decline in performance. He’s returns to London now as the No. 1 player in the world after turning in one of his top four seasons. Will the Spanish superstar finally win a year-end title and complete the biggest missing tournament piece to his packed resume?

He’s the top seed in the Pete Sampras Group with round-robin matches against David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov and Dominic Thiem. Maybe the biggest question is if he can stay healthy after withdrawing from Paris with a knee injury.

2017 Season

Best Performance

No surprise that the King of Clay dominated his favorite part of the year. He won for an astonishing 10th career time in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Roland Garros, and captured his fifth title at Madrid. At the French Open, he dropped only 35 games and crushed 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in the final, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

Season Low

Maybe the toughest part of Nadal’s year was losing all four of his matches to Roger Federer. Although he was brilliant up until a 3-1 lead in the fifth set in the Australian Open final, he faded to drop the classic epic. He’s now lost seven straight sets to Federer.

Best Social Media Moment

Getting to see Nadal finally play doubles with Federer at the inaugural Laver Cup was priceless. He even ran onto the court and lept into Federer’s arms when the Swiss clinched the cup for Team Europe against Nick Kyrgios.

Best Quote

At the US Open, a reporter asked Nadal this rather intimate question about Federer:

"What do you admire most about him as a man off the court?"

To which Nadal said:

"I don't want to look like I gonna be his boyfriend, no?"

Nadal’s response, understandably, went viral.