Rafael Nadal never got his hands on the title at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
The Swiss Indoors is one of the most prestigious tournaments on the ATP calendar, and this year it will be holding the 55th edition of the event, featuring the likes of Novak Djokovic, Ben Shelton, Arthur Fils and Rafael Jodar.
Djokovic is a former champion at the Swiss Indoors tournament, alongside a number of other legendary names including Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe.
However, the honour roll does not include Nadal, who was unable to win the title in Basel in any of his four appearances at the tournament.
Rafael Nadal did not win the title in any of his four appearances at the Swiss Indoors
The Swiss Indoors is now held on indoor hard courts, but when Nadal made his debut at the tournament in 2003 it was held on indoor carpet, which is no longer used for ATP events.
Nadal was just 17 years old at the time, and in the first round was drawn to face his compatriot Feliciano Lopez, who he had never played before. This was just Nadal’s 10th ATP Tour event, and although he won the first set, he was ultimately beaten 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).
The Mallorcan returned to Basel a year later, but Nadal was unable to win a match at the tournament once again, as this time he was beaten by Rainer Schüttler in straight sets.
Nadal did not return to the Swiss Indoors until 10 years later, when the tournament was now on indoor hard courts. Nadal won his first two matches at the tournament after obtaining emphatic wins over Simone Bolelli and Pierre-Hugues Herbert by dropping just six games in two matches. Despite his dominant start to the tournament, Nadal was stunned in the quarter-finals by Borna Coric.
The closest Nadal would come to winning the Swiss Indoors was in 2015, when he beat the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic and Richard Gasquet en route to the final. In this final he would play his great rival Federer, who has won the most titles at the Swiss Indoors in history.
Nadal lost the first set of this final, but fought back to level the match at one set apiece, before Federer took control of the final to win 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
| Year Rafael Nadal played at the Swiss Indoors | Result |
| 2003 | First Round – Lost to Feliciano Lopez |
| 2004 | First Round – Lost to Rainer Schüttler |
| 2014 | Quarter-final – Lost to Borna Coric |
| 2015 | Final – Lost to Roger Federer |
What Rafael Nadal said after losing to Roger Federer in the 2015 Basel final
The 2015 Swiss Indoors final was the last time Nadal would ever compete in Basel, but he appeared to be taking the positives from his defeat to Federer.
“The match wasn’t far away from me,” said Nadal. “He played well and I played well too. The match was very close to win, but I think he served very well in the third.
“I want to congratulate him for the victory and I had a lot of quality things in my game and mental side to take away from the week.”
Although Nadal was never able to win the title at the Swiss Indoors, he did win one title on indoor hard courts in his career. This came when the Madrid Open was held on indoor hard courts, with Nadal winning the title in 2005.
However, one of the biggest titles missing from Nadal’s collection is also held on indoor hard courts at the ATP Finals, where he twice lost in the final.