“Rafael Nadal will be absent from the 2023 ATP Finals, marking the third instance in his career where he won’t qualify for the year-end tournament. The Spaniard last participated in the ATP Finals in 2022, a year in which he secured victories in two Grand Slam events.”
Prior to that tournament in Turin, all the top 8 players were invited for a round table discussion. The players included superstars like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev. The players were talking up each other and most of the questions were about Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
While answering the question about champion quality that he admires, Daniil Medvedev hailed Nadal, Djokovic and Federer as the greatest players. The Russian talked well about Nadal but praised Djokovic more, which made things awkward. When Medvedev steered the conversation in the direction of Djokovic and while comparing him with Nadal, the Spaniard clearly looked on in an awkward manner. Medvedev was quoted as saying –
“I already felt that Roger, Rafa, Novak, they’re just the best tennis players of all time.
“And people around me were like, yeah, Rafa is finished. You know, he’s injured. I’m sure you heard it many times. Rafa proved so many times that it’s not like this.
“About Novak, when he just came on the tour everybody was like yeah this young guy, you know, he’s not going to achieve much compared to Roger and Rafa.
“And he proved everybody wrong and so that’s what I admire and that’s why they’re the best champions that ever existed.”
Djokovic and Nadal are fierce rivals and share an equation which is out of professional respect for each other only. In this video too, the duo praised each other for the rivalry they have had as well as what they admire about each other. But they have been competing for decades and constantly try to win more titles than the other. It is no secret that Nadal does not get along with Djokovic on many issues and the duo have traded shots at each other publicly since years.
Rafael Nadal ATP Finals record and 2022 event recap
Rafael Nadal has made it to the finals of the ATP Finals two times, 2010 and 2013 respectively. He has made it to more than two semifinals as well but has fallen short, mainly to Federer and Djokovic.
Going into the 2022 ATP Finals, Nadal was one of the favorites to win, but failed to do so. The top-seedd Spaniard was knocked out in the round robin stage itself after defeats to Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz. Novak Djokovic was the eventual champion at the event.
This year, Novak Djokovic is drawn in his group with Jannik Sinner, while Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz are drawn together in the other group. The Serbian will be the favorite to win a record 7th ATP Masters title and take with him a record $4,801,500 in prize money.
