Rafael Nadal isn’t confident about World Tour Finals after suffering Paris Masters defeat
World no.1 Rafael Nadal, last year’s US Open finalist, is bracing himself for an upset after his French Open semifinal exit at the Paris Masters.
The world number three was beaten in three sets by seventh-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) despite taking a 3-0 lead in the first set.
The Argentine-Croat is now 11-0 in Paris quarter-finals, where he lost to Tomas Berdych at the 2015 tournament. Berdych won all four of their encounters.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I have been playing good tennis for two months,” said the world number two.
Nadal, who faces fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem in the other semi-final today, added: “This could be a tough one; it can happen.”
Nadal, who will play either Jack Sock or Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday, admitted that he now wants to go into the final weekend with a clean sheet and to rest on Monday – the best day of the week for him.
“I want to be sure that I have a match tomorrow,” said the 26-year-old. “The matches in Madrid are going to be different, and I could play against Dominic Thiem on Sunday, and I could play someone before Roland Garros, but then I want to go into the weekend with a clean sheet and with no matches to worry about.”
Nadal has never lost a match in four tournaments.
He has already won the French Open a record eight times, and is on course to beat Andy Roddick’s record of 11 French Open titles if he wins his 16th Grand Slam in Paris.
However, it is also a reminder that he is still only 33, and has his best years still