Federer and Nadal aim to bring a fitting finale

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago Rafael Nadaland Roger Federer both missed the ATP World Tour Finals, having cut short their seasons because of injury. Andy Murray had just replaced Novak Djokovic as world No 1 and beat the Serb in the final here to finish the season at the top of the rankings.

It felt like the start of a new chapter in men’s tennis, but how wrong that impression proved to be. This year it is Murray and Djokovic who are the long-term absentees from next week’s rebranded Nitto ATP Finals, neither man having played competitively since Wimbledon because of injury, while Nadal and Federer, back at No 1 and No 2 respectively in the world rankings, will aim to bring a fitting finale to a season which they have utterly dominated.

The 31-year- old Spaniard and the 36-year-old Swiss have shared the season’s four Grand Slam titles and won five of the nine Masters Series events. Federer’s total of 9,005 ranking points is more than double that of the world No 3, Alexander Zverev.

t is all the more remarkable when you consider where the two great rivals were at the end of last year. Nadal was ranked No 9 in the world, having not won a Grand Slam title since 2014, while Federer, the world No 16, had not won one since 2012.

Perhaps the most telling factor this year has been their fitness. While Federer has played a limited schedule, the only tournament from which Nadal withdrew was last week’s Paris Masters following a recurrence of his knee problems.

Nadal thinks that where he had been unlucky with injuries in 2016, fortune has been on his side this year. “Sometimes players suffer more injuries,” he said here on Friday. “We are playing in a sport that is very demanding, a sport where you need to be 100 per cent fit to be competitive, and a sport, if you want to be high in the rankings, where you have to play the whole season.”

Because of his knee issue Nadal has been cautious in practice ahead of his opening match but insisted: “I am here. I’ll try my best. If I didn’t believe I would be ready for Monday I wouldn’t be here.”

He added: “Of course being here is important, but probably for me the most important thing is playing all year in the tournaments, playing almost every week at a very competitive level of tennis. When that happens and you are able to practise in a way that you want, your chances are a little bit higher.”

Even if Federer reaches the final here on Sunday week, in just his 12th tournament of the year, the Swiss will have played only 58 matches, which is nearly 40 fewer than he sometimes played in his twenties. THE INDEPENDENT