ATP World Tour Finals: 'Positive' Rafael Nadal cannot wait for next season but still hopes to catch Novak Djokovic out

Rafael Nadal’s competitive season will end some time in the next 48 hours but he will not be digging out his fishing rods or heading for the beach or the golf course. “I don’t deserve a vacation this year,” Nadal said with a smile here yesterday at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

This has been Nadal’s least productive season since 2004, but at least the 29-year-old Spaniard is finishing it with optimism for the future. His form has picked up appreciably in the last two months, despite having to play on his least favoured surface of hard courts. He faces Novak Djokovic in the first of the semi-finals here this afternoon.

Nadal’s hard-fought 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory yesterday over David Ferrer saw the world No 5 finish the group stage with a 100 per cent record, which matched the performance of Roger Federer, who in this evening’s second semi-final will meet the winner of last night’s concluding round-robin match between Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.

Whether he plays his last match of the season today or in tomorrow’s final, Nadal said he would be back in the gym next week, after which he will take part in a charity event for his foundation next weekend and then head to the Far East to practise and play in the International Premier Tennis League. After another eight days’ practice in Majorca he will begin his 2016 season at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in the week after Christmas.

“I am well,” Nadal said. “When you are coming after a tough period, when you feel you are better, you breathe better. You feel fresh. In terms of motivation for me, it’s great to see myself competing against the best already and competing well. That’s a lot of positive energy for me.”

It was typical of Nadal’s honesty that he put everything into a match yesterday that had nothing riding on it other than ranking points and additional prize money. Although he had already qualified for the semi-finals, Nadal was happy to grind out victory in the longest match of the tournament so far at two hours and 37 minutes.

“It doesn’t matter if I was qualified,” Nadal said. “For me the main goal is to try to arrive in good shape for next year. Today was an opportunity to play against another of the top-eight players of the world on a tough surface for me, a good surface for him.”

He added: “My motivation is always high in every tournament. I don’t try harder here than in another tournament. I don’t try harder at Roland Garros than I do at Doha. When I go on court, I try my best every single week.”

Djokovic, who is aiming to win this tournament for the fourth year in a row, is likely to provide an even tougher test today, particularly as it will be an opportunity for the world No 1 finally to get even with the Spaniard. No two players have met more frequently in the Open era than Djokovic and Nadal, who face each other for the 46th time.

Although Nadal leads their head-to-head record by 23 wins to 22, Djokovic has been chipping away at the gap behind the former world No 1 ever since losing their 2013 US Open final. Djokovic has won seven of their last eight meetings, his only loss in the last two years having come in last summer’s French Open final.

Djokovic’s own form has dipped this week despite a spectacular start when he crushed Kei Nishikori on the first day. The world No 1 then played one of his worst matches of the year in losing to Federer and gave a patchy performance in beating Tomas Berdych.

“I played an amazing first match,” Djokovic said. “The last two matches haven’t been on the level desired, but I still managed to win two and lose one and I’m in the semi-finals.

“With the amount of wins I had this year, with the quality of tennis that I’ve played, I’m going to approach that match really optimistically, as I always do.”

Djokovic said he was well aware of Nadal’s improved form. “The first couple of matches he played here, against Wawrinka and Murray, showed that he feels more confident,” Djokovic said. “He’s starting to miss less, serve efficiently, use his forehand much better. I know that. I’ve been watching. I know what to expect.”