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FILE – Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts during his second round match against Spain’s Pablo Carreño-Busta Pool via REUTERS / Riccardo Antimiani
Rafael Nadal said Sunday that he “is not concerned” about his injury casualty record at the Paris Masters before his latest bid to win the event for the first time, just three weeks after his 13th French Open title.
This will be only Nadal’s eighth appearance in the tournament at the Bercy Arena, located less than 14km from Paris from Roland Garros, and he has only reached the final once.
His last two visits have ended through injury, last year before a semi-final against Denis Shapovalov, and in 2017 before the quarter-finals with Filip Krajinovic.
“I’m here to play the best I can and not think about injuries, hopefully not,” said the 34-year-old.
“When I go to a tournament, I just focus on trying to play my best tennis. Don’t worry if I was injured in the past, that can happen again.
“It is true that we are in different circumstances than in previous years. But you always have to take care of the situation and be prepared to accept any inconvenience ”.
Nadal’s one-sided victory in the French Open final over Novak Djokovic last month put him at the top of the all-time list with Roger Federer with a 20th men’s Grand Slam title.
But he often struggles to stay in shape at the end of the year and has never won the season-ending ATP Tour Finals either.
After his thirteenth win at Roland Garros, Nadal suggested he could skip the indoor hard court tournaments.
But now he says he also plans to play in the latest edition of the Tour Finals to be played in London later this month, before moving to Turin.
“Yes. If nothing happens here, yes,” said the Spaniard.
“(It’s) part of the history of our game. It is an important event and it is a party for the best players of the season ”.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Nadal has only played two tournaments in the last seven months.
But he doesn’t plan to play on a shortened schedule like rival Roger Federer has adopted in recent years.
“I like to play tennis, so I like to play a little more than two tournaments every six or seven months, right?” added.
“I like to play a little more before the important tournaments, but not because of the important tournament there is… It is because I like to play tennis, I like competition and that’s what I do.
“So it’s nothing new that I’ve played well after a while without playing tennis.
“I did it in the past. So that confirms that I can do it. But I hope that next year we can have a more regular schedule and I can play a little more tennis ”.
The top seed starts his tournament with a second-round match against former runner-up Krajinovic or his veteran compatriot Feliciano López.
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