The ATP Finals have become one of the focal points of the tennis calendar, with many players and pundits considering it as the fifth biggest tournament of the year behind the four Grand Slams.
Jannik Sinner won the ATP Finals in 2025 to continue his astonishing record at the year-end tournament, which has also included a 2024 victory and a final appearance in 2023.
The tournament has taken place in Shanghai, London, and Turin in the past two decades on indoor hardcourts.
Rafael Nadal, who famously never won the tournament, suggested a rule change in 2013 that Roger Federer was not very happy about.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal disagreed on the ATP Finals future
Nadal suggested that the event should sporadically change between surfaces rather than stay as an indoor hardcourt event.
Speaking to CNN, the King of Clay said: “I know it’s not going to happen for my generation. I’m talking for the future generations, something that will be a little bit fairer for the players.
“And I think for the fans it will be interesting to change the surface every year to the surfaces we qualified on for the (World Tour Finals).
“A good player has a chance to qualify for the (World Tour Finals) four or five times in his career, so if during this four years you have a different surface every year, a minimum one time he will have the chance to play on his favorite surface.”
Federer, meanwhile, was not a fan of his great rival’s rule change for the legendary year-end tournament.
He replied: “I believe it should be indoor and hard. I know there’s an argument to have it on clay, on grass, to have it outdoors — and I did play outdoors in Houston.
“I just feel indoors doesn’t have enough play. The indoor season is small. I believe indoors deserves a huge event, which this one is.”
Federer won a record six ATP Finals in his career across three different cities. The star won the tournament in Houston, Shanghai, and London.
Why Rafael Nadal never won the ATP Finals
Nadal reached the final of the ATP Finals on two occasions, but ended up on the losing side in 2010 and 2013.
The Spanish star lost to Federer and Novak Djokovic in the finals, and he explained the reason he never won the tournament.
Speaking to The National, Nadal admitted: “Of course I would like to have won the ATP Finals one time; that’s probably the only important event that I never won,” he said.
“But that’s it. 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.”
Perhaps if the event took place on clay he might have had a better chance of winning it, but the star still ended his career with a phenomenal number of titles.
