Nadal has tough route to maiden ATP Finals title

LONDON • Rafael Nadal was on Thursday drawn in the same group as defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and US Open winner Dominic Thiem for the ATP Finals in London.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will face Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman in the group stages of the final edition of the tournament starting tomorrow in London before it moves to Turin next year.

The 50th anniversary of the first staging of the event has been marked with the naming of two round-robin groups, Tokyo 1970 and London 2020.

World No. 2 Nadal appears to have the harder route to the semi-finals, with Andrey Rublev completing the Tokyo 1970 group. The Spaniard has never won the season-ending competition, which Djokovic has won five times, and he failed to even advance past the group stage last year.

But former British player Tim Henman believes Nadal "still has a good chance" of winning.

"When you set the bar so high, when you look at his record indoors (92-39) and sort of say, 'Oh, it's not too good'. But he's won a Masters series indoors, he's been in the final of the ATP Finals on two occasions (2010, 2013). He's still got a very good chance," Henman said. "I don't think he's the favourite this coming tournament but he'll still fancy his chances if he's fit and healthy."

Usually a hugely popular week for tennis fans, this year's tournament will be staged without fans at the O2 Arena due to the surging Covid-19 pandemic which has forced another lockdown in London. Should there be any injuries or withdrawals, those places will be taken by Matteo Berrettini and Denis Shapovalov, who are the first and second alternates respectively.

REUTERS