Rafael Nadal isn’t confident about World Tour Finals after suffering Paris Masters defeat
The Spaniard had to watch from the sidelines as a resurgent Nadal was defeated by Federer in the final.
Rafael Nadal has admitted he is disappointed with his performance in Paris Masters after a heartbreaking loss to Novak Djokovic, who beat Novak Djokovic of Croatia.
World number one Nadal reached his first Masters quarter-final since losing the final to Roger Federer, who he had beaten in 2013. Nadal struggled to make it through the opening rounds, dropping a set to the world number three.
Djokovic, a two-time French Open champion, who has not lost to Nadal since defeating him at the French Open in 2014, won 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) this week to move to within one point of becoming only the second man in history to win the title six times in a row.
Jelena Ostapchuk of Ukraine, the defending champion, is now three points behind. The pair will play each other for the last time at the French Open at the end of the month.
The Swiss’s victory meant that after Nadal had won the French Open and the US Open in consecutive years, only Federer held the all-time record for being the best-ever player to win the same tournament more than once.
Nadal is now in the quarter-finals of the event for the first time since 2008, which included his three Grand Slam titles as well as the Olympic gold in London the following summer.
After the loss to Federer, Nadal said: “I can’t accept this loss.
“I’m not happy at all. I would have preferred a better performance today. I’m feeling bad today.
“I felt like I deserved to win the match after a very good start. I won the early points so I tried to keep the second set in the tiebreaker.
“But, at the end of the third set, I dropped a set. I didn’t expect my opponent to return so many points.
“That’s why I think it was not a good match. I can’t accept the loss.”
Nadal’s form has been under pressure in recent weeks. Despite being ranked four places above Novak, he lost to Federer in the French