Rafael Nadal: can he end his Tour Finals hoodoo?

Rafael Nadal will hope to win the one title that has alluded him so far in his illustrious career next week.

Nadal, a winner of an incredible 92 ATP titles and 22 Grand Slam singles titles, has never won the ATP World Tour Finals.

His best two finishes came in 2010 and 2013 where he made the final but lost out to hist two great rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

The Spainard has also reached the semi-final stage on four difference occasions with a further four losses at the round robin stage.

He is set for his 11th appearance at the event in Italy next week after missing last year’s event. That was the first time he hadn’t qualified for 17 years as he missed most of the campaign with a foot injury.

Rafael Nadal looks set to compete at the event in Turin next week despite worries over his match fitness. He has only played twice since his fourth round US Open defeat – at the Laver Cup for Roger Federer’s farewell and at the Paris Masters where he lost in his opening match.

He could yet end the year as world number 1 if he were to reach the final of the event with Carlos Alcaraz absent through injury. Nadal is around 1,000 points behind Alcaraz.

The 14-time French Open champion was realistic about his future chances at the Tour Finals after his defeat to Tommy Paul in Paris.

He said: ”Just give myself a chance to enjoy another Finals. You never know when it is going to be the last, especially at my age. So I’m going to give my best to enjoy this one, and then [the] next years of course I’m going to fight to be back there.”

A maiden tour final win for Nadal would see him finish the year as world number 1 for the fifth time in his career.

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