ATP: Rafael Nadal against his autumn curse

Rafael Nadal will probably end the year as number one in the world.Will he win more tournaments by then?

Rafael Nadal is the clear world number one in the last two months of the 2017 tennis season.The 31-year-old Spaniard has five more tournaments to play.At the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Beijing, Nadal’s victory in the tournament is almost enough to bag the number one at the end of the year.Roger Federer’s gap with Nadal in the annual world ranking, currently at 1860 points, is very difficult to catch up.

But now the season begins, which for the Spaniard in the past was not too successful.Autumn is not a good season for Nadal.After the US Open, Nadal has only won three tournaments – two in 2005 and one in 2010.Three of his five remaining tournaments will take place in the arena (Basel, Paris-Bercy, ATP World Tour Finals).Nadal and the game in the hall – that doesn’t fit together in any way and is the Achilles’ heel for the Spaniard.Of his 74 ATP titles, Nadal has only won two in the arena, one of them on his beloved sandy ground.

But now the tournament in Beijing, which will be played under an open roof on a hard court, is on the agenda.The draw has given the world number one a tricky opening match.Nadal will face Lucas Pouille, who defeated him in the last sixteen of the US Open 2016.Other possible opponents are Karen Khachanov (fourth-final), John Isner (quarter-final) and Grigor Dimitrov or Juan Martin del Potro (semi-final).The signs are good that Nadal will win a tournament in the autumn of 2010 for the first time since then, especially as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are out of action.If it doesn’t work in Beijing, Nadal will still have four more chances.