ATP Finals 2019: More than a season-ending trophy at stake for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Despite the inroads made by the younger generation, it has been Nadal and Djokovic who have dominated the Grand Slams

The field for next week’s ATP Finals is a reflection of the progress made this year by so many young players, but once again it will be the old guard who will be the focus of much of the attention at the year-end competition.

Stefanos Tsitsipas (aged 21), Daniil Medvedev (23) and Matteo Berrettini (23) are all making their debuts in the tournament and Alexander Zverev (22) will be defending his title, but the biggest showdown is set to be the battle between 33-year-old Rafael Nadal and 32-year-old Novak Djokovic to finish the year as world No 1.

Despite the inroads made by the younger generation, it has been Nadal and Djokovic who have dominated at this year’s Grand Slam events, the Spaniard winning in Paris and New York while the Serb triumphed in Melbourne and at Wimbledon. The two men are well clear of the field at the top of the world rankings ahead of third-placed Roger Federer, who completes the eight-strong line-up at the O2 Arena along with Dominic Thiem.

Nadal, overtaking Djokovic, went to No 1 in the world rankings for the first time for more than a year but for the eighth time in his career last week. The French Open champion might have already secured the year-end position but for his decision to rest – not to mention get married – during last month’s Asia swing. He is 640 points ahead of Djokovic at the top of the rankings, but with 1,500 points available to the champion in London there is still everything to play for.

Djokovic, who has often performed well in the closing weeks of the season, has won two titles since the US Open, whereas Nadal has played only at the Laver Cup (for which no ranking points are awarded) and at last week’s Paris Masters, where he pulled out shortly before his scheduled semi-final because of an abdominal injury. Nadal, who is due to play his first match in London on Monday, admitted that because of his injury he has only just started hitting serves again.

“I need to go day by day,” he said at the O2 Arena on Friday. “I’m happy to be here because after last Saturday in Paris I didn’t know whether I would have a chance to be here. I need to see how things evolve every single day but I have good hopes that I will be ready for Monday.”

Nadal is trying to end the year as world No 1 for the fifth time in his career, which would match the tallies of Djokovic and Federer. The fact that he leads the rankings now is all the more remarkable given that he had a number of fitness issues in the first four months of the year.

“At the start of the season my problem was not my tennis,” Nadal said. “My problem was more injuries. It was the same in 2018. It wasn’t that I was tired of playing tennis or wasn’t playing well enough. When I was playing I was playing well. But it’s so difficult to hold the level when you have problems every week. That was what was happening with me.

“After Monte Carlo [in April] I started playing well. My confidence came back and the most important thing is that my health has been back. I’ve been able to play my normal schedule without many problems from Barcelona until New York. Those are good months of the season in which to be healthy and ready to play.”

Nadal said that being year-end world No 1 had never been his goal. “If it had been I would have gone to China,” he said. “My personal goal is just to keep competing for as long as possible. That doesn’t mean that I’m giving up the chance to be year-end No 1. Not at all, but I’m not pursuing that goal.”

There’s plenty at stake at The O2 (Getty Images)

The Spaniard has reached the final at the year-end championships only twice, losing to Federer in 2010 and Djokovic in 2013. This is the 15thyear in a row that he has qualified for the tournament, but on six previous occasions he did not play because of injury and two years ago he limped out after his first group match.

Djokovic, who has won this title five times, described being year-end world No 1 as one of the two biggest achievements in tennis – along with winning Grand Slam titles – but insisted that he too appreciated the need both to play a balanced schedule and to take family considerations into account when planning it.

“We have to have the support of our close ones in order to have the chance to have a go for the year-end No 1,” Djokovic said. “I’m really pleased to be in this position, but at the same time I’m trying to understand that longevity is something I’m valuing even more.”

Federer has won the year-end finals on six occasions, but the last time he did so was in 2011. This time the 38-year-old Swiss appears to be in the easier of the two round-robin groups, alongside Djokovic, Thiem and Berrettini. The top two in each group go through to the semi-finals on Saturday week.

Sunday’s opening matches will see Djokovic take on Berrettini while Federer will meet Thiem. In the opening matches in the other group Tsitsipas will meet Medvedev on Monday afternoon before Nadal takes on Zverev.