A few days ago, coach Carlos Moya gave the go-ahead for his protégé Rafael Nadal. The world number one himself does not see this optimistically.
World number one Rafael Nadal (31) hopes to be fit enough for the opening game at the ATP Final in London,”If I didn’t believe I wouldn’t be ready, I wouldn’t be here,”said the 16-time Grand Slam winner before his opening match against Belgian David Goffin on Monday. Nevertheless, he admitted that he hadn’t trained with 100 percent since his injury.
Nadal had to cancel last Friday’s quarter-finals at the Masters in Paris against Filip Krajinovic due to a knee injury two hours before the start of the match. However, the Spaniard will not miss the chance of his first victory at the Grand Final in London. However, he said that it is impossible to predict how his knee will react in the tournament.
The Mallorcan was drawn into a group in London with Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov and Goffin – and under normal circumstances he has to be considered the clear favourite for progressing into the final round.
Nadal’s retirement would be a bitter blow for the organizers, after last year’s winner Andy Murray (Great Britain) could not defend his title due to persistent hip problems and Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) had also canceled due to injury.