ATP Tennis News: Nadal facing a stiff challenge at O2
Rafael Nadal looks far from a solid favourite to me to win the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena next week. Nadal has been off with tendonitis in his shoulder so could be marginally short of match fitness and the Spaniard does not seem especially confident of a better showing last year, where he suffered 3 straight sets defeats in conditions that really don’t play to his strengths.
"You're playing against the best players in the world in the most difficult conditions for me. If you're not playing your best, it's almost impossible to win matches. If I arrive without playing my best on clay, the situation is different, I have a little bit more time. For me personally it's more difficult to win four matches indoors than to win seven matches in a grand slam. In some ways it's good to have a little rest before but I think maybe not, because you arrive here to play the best players in the world and you will start against a very good player."
Andy Murray will be hoping for a win in the tournament after conceding the World number 4 ranking to Robin Soderling. The Scot faces Soderling in his first match and said;
"He's a big guy, he serves well, he hits the ball big from the back of the court. You have to play smart against him. You're probably not going to get that many chances and when you do you need to take them. I'm hoping if I play well I'll give myself a chance of winning but he's obviously going to be tough after Paris. I feel pretty confident right now. I'm happy with the stuff I've been working on in practice."
Coral Eurobet have taken a real view on Nadal, being much shorter than anyone and at the moment the tournament book is over-round. I would suggest taking the 6/1 about Novak Djokovic and the stand-out 16/1 about Robin Soderling.