Nadal Has First Practise At Nitto ATP Finals

Rafael Nadal had his first practise on centre court at The O2 Thursday as he looks ahead to Sunday’s start of the Nitto ATP Finals. Flanked by workers putting finishing touches on the venue, Nadal, a two-time finalist at the event, practised for just under an hour with coach Carlos Moya and top Argentine junior Thiago Tirante.

Nadal enters the season finale 640 ATP Rankings points ahead of five-time tournament champion Novak Djokovic, who kept pressure on the Spaniard in the battle to finish the season No. 1 by winning the Rolex Paris Masters.

Nadal is looking to join Djokovic, Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors as players to finish the year No. 1 five times. Djokovic is hoping to equal Pete Sampras’ record mark of six No. 1 finishes. Sampras achieved the feat in consecutive years between 1993-98.

Nadal headlines Group Andre Agassi, which also features Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and defending champion Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic tops Group Bjorn Borg, which features Federer, Dominic Thiem and Italian Mattteo Berrettini.

Nadal will go into the Nitto ATP Finals sitting atop the ATP Rankings for the 198^th week in his career. That is sixth all-time, behind Federer (310), Sampras (286), Djokovic (275), Ivan Lendl (270) and Connors (268).

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/33BCu29