The number of titles Andy Murray predicted Rafael Nadal would have won if the ATP Finals were played on clay

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The ATP Finals was the only big title that Rafael Nadal was never able to win in his decorated career.

Nadal retired from tennis last year as a 22-time Grand Slam champion, with the Spaniard featuring in the ATP Finals 11 times in his career.

The ATP Finals feature the top eight players from the season and are held on indoor hard courts, with Jannik Sinner winning the title in Turin last year.

With Nadal’s best surface being clay, his former rival Andy Murray once predicted what would have happened if the tournament was played on the dirt instead.

Andy Murray thought Rafael Nadal would have won the ATP Finals ‘six or seven times’ if it was played on clay

Murray won the ATP Finals in 2016 to become world number one for the first time in his career, with Nadal the only member of ‘the big four’ who did not win the year-end championships.

Only four players competed in the ATP Finals more times than Nadal, but he was unable to better his two final appearances in 2010 and 2013.

When Murray was asked about why he thinks Nadal had been unable to win the ATP Finals on a Twitch stream in 2020, he claimed that the surface was a big factor.

The Briton then went on to suggest that Nadal would likely have won six or seven titles if the ATP Finals were held on clay instead of indoor hard courts.

“It’s just not his best surface and it’s possible that if it was played on clay for the last 10-12 years, then maybe he would have won it six or seven times,” Murray said at the time. “So, for sure the surface has been a contributing factor.

“It all comes down to preference and game styles and matchups and there’s lots of reasons. Rafa would have been highly motivated and really wanting to win this event. But, just a difficult surface for him against the top players.”

Nadal only ever won one title on indoor hard courts in his career; that came at the Madrid Open in 2005 before the tournament switched surface to clay.

Did Rafael Nadal have regrets over never winning the ATP Finals?

With Novak Djokovic winning Olympic gold last year to complete his trophy collection, Nadal’s inability to win the ATP Finals has been spoken about more.

However, it does not appear to be something that is playing on Nadal’s mind, as he told The National last year that he was at peace with not winning the year-end tournament.

“Of course I would like to have won the ATP Finals one time; that’s probably the only important event that I never won,” said Nadal. “But that’s it.

“I was a little bit unlucky that at the end of the season I was not in my best shape physically, a lot of time with injuries. Then I had very difficult rivals in front and I played all my career ATP Finals in indoor fast courts, on indoor hard, and, at the beginning, indoor carpet.

“But nothing to complain [about]. If you ask me what I would have liked to win, of course I would love to have one of these. I had my chances; I was not able to convert them. That’s fine.”

The closest Nadal got to winning the ATP Finals was in 2010, when he lost in a three set final to Roger Federer in London.

Although he may never have been able to win the prestigious title, Nadal did win 22 Grand Slam titles, 36 Masters 1000 titles and two Olympic gold medals.