Players Who Beat Rafael Nadal at Shanghai Masters Before Retirement

Rafael Nadal never secured the Shanghai Masters trophy throughout his tennis career. Retiring in 2024, Nadal is celebrated as one of the all-time greats, boasting 22 Grand Slam victories and 36 Masters 1000 titles, second only to Novak Djokovic. Among the nine ATP 1000 events, Shanghai was one of just two he never won.

Nadal’s Results at the Shanghai Masters

Across eight appearances, Nadal reached two finals but was unable to clinch the title. In the tournament's first edition, 2009, he made it to the final but lost to Nikolay Davydenko with scores of 7-6(3), 6-3.

His next two years at Shanghai saw early exits: a third-round defeat by Jurgen Melzer in 2010 and another third-round loss to Florian Mayer in 2011. Nadal missed the 2012 event due to a left knee injury.

Returning in 2013, he advanced to the semi-finals before falling to Juan Martin del Potro. The following year, 2014, he lost his only match against compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the second round. Nadal reached the semi-finals again in 2015 but was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In 2016, he faced a second-round exit after losing to Viktor Troicki.

His final trip to Shanghai came in 2017, where he met Roger Federer in the final but was defeated 6-4, 6-3. This made Nadal the only player to lose more than one Shanghai final without ever winning the title.

2009: Final - Lost to Nikolay Davydenko
2010: Third Round - Lost to Jurgen Melzer
2011: Third Round - Lost to Florian Mayer
2013: Semi-final - Lost to Juan Martin del Potro
2014: Second Round - Lost to Feliciano Lopez
2015: Semi-final - Lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
2016: Second Round - Lost to Viktor Troicki
2017: Final - Lost to Roger Federer

What Nadal Said After His Last Shanghai Appearance

When asked if never winning Shanghai motivated him more, Nadal replied, "No. No, no, I just play every tournament with as high motivation as possible. 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."

He added, "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. It's true that I was not able to play as good as I would like here that often, but I already played two finals, couple of semi-finals. So was not a bad event."

Nadal missed the 2018 Shanghai Masters due to a right knee injury and skipped the 2019 tournament because of a left wrist problem. The event was then removed from the calendar until 2023, by which time Nadal was winding down his career and limiting his schedule.