Rafael Nadal was never able to get his hands on the Shanghai Masters title in his career.
Nadal, who retired from tennis in 2024, is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, having won 22 Grand Slam titles in his career.
As well as his major title victories, Nadal also won 36 Masters 1000 titles, a record that is only bettered by Novak Djokovic.
This includes Nadal winning seven of the nine current ATP 1000 tournaments, with the Shanghai Masters being one of the only two he was never able to win in his career.
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Rafael Nadal did not win the title in any of his eight appearances at the Shanghai Masters
Nadal nearly won the title in the inaugural edition of the Shanghai Masters, as he made it all the way to the final. However, it was not to be for Nadal, who was stunned by Nikolay Davydenko, who beat him 7-6(3), 6-3 in that final.
Following finishing as runner-up in 2009, Nadal suffered early exits in his next two appearances at the Shanghai Masters, as he was beaten 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 injury, before returning to the tournament in 2013, when he would reach the semi-finals before losing to Juan Martin del Potro.
He would then lose his only match at the 2014 tournament against his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, before Nadal then formed a pattern of reaching the semi-finals again in 2015, before losing his only match at the Shanghai Masters in 2016 against Viktor Troicki.
Nadal’s final appearance at the Shanghai Masters came in 2017, where he would return to the final and face one of his biggest rivals, Roger Federer. It was once again not meant to be for Nadal, who was beaten by Federer 6-4, 6-3.
This result meant that Nadal became part of unwanted history, as the first and only player to lose multiple finals in Shanghai without winning the title.
| Year | Nadal’s 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 losing to Roger Federer in his final ever match in Shanghai
Nadal did not know at the time that his defeat to Federer in the 2017 Shanghai Masters final was his final ever appearance at the tournament, but he was asked about his lack of title at the event in his press conference after the match.
The Mallorcan was specifically asked if he had more motivation in Shanghai having never won the title there, but Nadal insisted that this was not the case.
“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 try my best. I try to play as good as I can. Sometimes I play better; 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 right knee injury and missed the 2019 tournament as a result of a left wrist issue, before the tournament was removed from the calendar until 2023, when he was in the latter stages of his career and was playing a minimal schedule.
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