Rafael Nadal preparing for 'tough opening match' against Andrey Rublev

20-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal expects to be well prepared for the Nitto ATP Finals as more or less he was satisfied with the way his campaign at the Paris Masters went. 

Nadal, ranked at No. 2 in the world, made the semifinal at Bercy, before losing to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev. 

On Sunday, Nadal opens his campaign at The O2 Arena against rising Russian star Andrey Rublev, who has had an outstanding season so far, claiming five titles in 2020.

"I don’t know how close I was to a perfect preparation. The four matches in Bercy should help and I have two more days to prepare for a tough opening match against Rublev," Nadal said in his press conference in London, as revealed by Nikolaus Fink.

Nadal, who has accomplished pretty much everything a player can achieve in the game of tennis, has surprisingly never won a Nitto ATP Finals title. 

Nadal is hoping to win it all at the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time at the age of 34 and say goodbye to The O2 Arena in the best possible way for him. 

From 2021 onward, the Nitto ATP Finals will be staged in Turin.

"The experience to play the finals in London has been one of the best. It was one of the best events. The ATP did a great job in choosing London. It is not fair to finish the finals without crowd. But an event like this needs to move around the world," Nadal claimed.

Daniil Medvedev recalled his ATP Finals clash against Nadal 

Last year, Nadal recovered from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to beat Medvedev in a Round Robin match at the Nitto ATP Finals.

"It was a really good match until 5-1, but [...] you can only say it was terrible [...] A terrible mental game from you, terrible tennis game because you can't lose a match when you are up 5-1 and a match point," Medvedev recently recalled blowing a big lead against Nadal at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Medvedev didn't claim a single win last year and he is hoping to have much more success this year.

"Hopefully I can get some wins there. No other goal than just to get some wins, because you play 3 [...] top-10 players in the group. [I have] no goal to really like win the tournament or anything. Just to win matches," Medvedev added.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3kzr2LL