• Nadal. "I have high hopes of being 100%"
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The O2 says goodbye 11 years after the ATP Finals with an edition full of attractions. Before yielding to Turin the headquarters of the tournament that brings together the eight best players of the season, the British capital will host the dispute for the number 1 in the world, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as protagonists of a round to conclude the course in the roof of the circuit.

The Spanish also pursues a title that has been denied to date, with the end of 2010 and 2013 as a ceiling. The Serbian, his sixth victory in the tournament, with which he would get on the exclusive car where Roger Federer now travels. The stage presents three debutants: Daniil Medvedev , Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini will defend the flag of the new generation. To her belongs Alexander Zverev , defender of the cup, who a year ago achieved in this competition the greatest success of a race that does not finish taking off. In intermediate ground is Dominic Thiem , who tries to continue improving his credit under cover.

The preparation of the definitive picture has been pending of the physical state of Nadal, who suffered a strain in the right abdominal rectum in the 1000 Masters of Paris-Bercy and could not dispute the semifinals. The left-hander decided last Tuesday to move to London and put himself to the test, with results so far encouraging. "I do not want to lie to you, I have the confidence that it can go well, but I also have the doubt that it can go wrong because the time since what happened in Paris until today is very short," he said at the conference Press before the start of the tournament.

Once again, as happened in 2017, when he left after losing to David Goffin in the first game of the group stage due to knee problems, Nadal arrives at the end of the season with physical limitations . In fact, he has always won a place in the ATPFinals since 2005, but has only been able to participate in eight.

Committed area for the service

This time the greatest damage is in the serve, in whose execution the abdominal area is compromised. As pointed out to this newspaper by his doctor, Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro , there are no problems when hitting below the waist. The doctor supervises each of his workouts in London.

In front of a decadent Nadal, Djokovic arrives tuned after getting the title in Paris-Bercy. Belgrade needs to win the tournament and that Nadal does not reach the semifinals if he wants to conclude for the sixth year as the best in the ranks and match Pete Sampras, the only one who has achieved it to date. Both players have distributed this year the four Grand Slam tournaments, with Nadal champion in Roland Garros and the United States Open and Djokovic winner in the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Federer, who after getting his tenth title in Basel decided to get off Paris-Bercy, is as favorite as the one in a surface that suits him and with the format to the best of three sets, also favorable to his interests.

The strength of the three great protagonists in the last three decades is also evident from their presence in the competition that rewards the merits of each season. The Swiss appears for the seventeenth occasion and Djokovic for the twelfth. On the opposite end are the three rookies , among which Medvedev stands out, who has completed an amazing second part of the season.

After four consecutive wins Djokovic, between 2012 and 2015, and Andy Murray's victory in 2016, the tournament has illuminated two unpublished champions in recent editions. Grigor Dimitrov took the cup in 2017 and Zverev won last year. The ATP Finals have incorporated a margin of unpredictability, attributable in large part to physical conditions, of notable influence with the calendar about to be consumed.

Unlike other seasons, in which it was the last port for most of the players, except for those who might be involved in the Davis Cup final, the situation is different with the new format. From November 18 to 24, what has also been called the world tennis championship will be played in Madrid, where, in principle, half of the teachers will be involved: Nadal, Djokovic, Medvedev and Berrettini.

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