Rafael Nadal was never ready to get his palms on the Shanghai Masters title in his profession.
Nadal, who retired from tennis in 2024, is thought-about one of the biggest tennis gamers of all time, having won 22 Grand Slam titles in his profession.
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As nicely as his main title victories, Nadal also won 36 Masters 1000 titles, a report that is only bettered by Novak Djokovic.
This consists of Nadal successful seven of the 9 present ATP 1000 tournaments, with the Shanghai Masters being one of the only two he was never ready to win in his profession.
Rafael Nadal did not win the title in any of his eight appearances at the Shanghai Masters
Nadal almost won the title in the inaugural version of the Shanghai Masters, as he made it all the approach to the last. However, it was not to be for Nadal, who was surprised by Nikolay Davydenko, who beat him 7-6(3), 6-3 in that last.
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Following ending as runner-up in 2009, Nadal suffered early exits in his next two appearances at the Shanghai Masters, as he was crushed by Jurgen Melzer and Florian Mayer in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
Nadal would then miss the Shanghai Masters in 2012 due to a left knee damage, before returning to the match in 2013, when he would attain the semi-finals before dropping to Juan Martin del Potro.
He would then lose his only match at the 2014 match against his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, before Nadal then fashioned a sample of reaching the semi-finals again in 2015, before dropping his only match at the Shanghai Masters in 2016 against Viktor Troicki.
Nadal’s last look at the Shanghai Masters came in 2017, where he would return to the last and face one of his largest rivals, Roger Federer. It was once again not meant to be for Nadal, who was crushed by Federer 6-4, 6-3.
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This end result meant that Nadal turned half of undesirable historical past, as the first and only participant to lose a number of finals in Shanghai without successful the title.
|
Year |
Nadal’s end result at the Shanghai Masters |
Player who beat Nadal |
|
2009 |
Final |
Nikolay Davydenko |
|
2010 |
Third Round |
Jurgen Melzer |
|
2011 |
Third Round |
Florian Mayer |
|
2013 |
Semi-final |
Juan Martin del Potro |
|
2014 |
Second Round |
Feliciano Lopez |
|
2015 |
Semi-final |
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga |
|
2016 |
Second Round |
Viktor Troicki |
|
2017 |
Final |
Roger Federer |
What Rafael Nadal said after dropping to Roger Federer in his last ever match in Shanghai
Nadal did not know at the time that his defeat to Federer in the 2017 Shanghai Masters last was his last ever look at the match, but he was requested about his lack of title at the occasion in his press convention after the match.
The Mallorcan was particularly requested if he had more motivation in Shanghai having never won the title there, but Nadal insisted that this was not the case.
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“No. No, no, I just play every tournament with as high motivation as possible,” responded Nadal. “Would not be fair I play here with higher motivation than in Monte-Carlo because I didn’t win here and I won in Monte-Carlo 10 times.
“No, every time I go on court I attempt my best. I attempt to play as good as I can. Sometimes I play higher; sometimes I play worse.
“That’s all. Shanghai is an important event. I always put attention in this event. Is true that I was not able to play as good as I would like here that often, but I already play two finals, couple of semi-finals. So was not a bad event.”
Nadal did not play the Shanghai Masters in 2018 due to a proper knee damage and missed the 2019 match as a end result of a left wrist problem, before the match was eliminated from the calendar until 2023, when he was in the latter levels of his profession and was enjoying a minimal schedule.
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