ATP: Moya: Rafa Nadal starts at finals

Rafael Nadal, the ailing world number one racer, will start at the ATP final in London. Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya confirmed on Wednesday evening:”Rafa is fine, the knee is fine. He just dumped it so he wouldn’t take any chances. He will be competitive because it’s the only tournament he hasn’t won yet,”said Moya on the sidelines of the “NextGen”finals in Milan.

Nadal had to cancel the quarter-finals at the Masters in Paris last Friday because of a knee injury two hours before the start of the match. The 31-year-old Spaniard will meet Dominic Thiem (Austria), Grigor Dimitrow (Bulgaria) and David Goffin (Belgium) in the Pete Sampras Group. Alexander Zverev (Hamburg), Roger Federer (Switzerland), Marin Cilic (Croatia) and Jack Sock (USA) play in the Boris-Becker Group.

Last year’s winner Andy Murray (Great Britain) is due to persistent hip problems in rehab and is therefore unable to defend his title. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) are also absent due to injury.