Rafael Nadal has won the French Open and the Australian Open this yearRafael Nadal's hopes of a first ATP Finals title took a blow as he was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Defeat against the Canadian follows an opening loss to American Taylor Fritz in Turin.
The 36-year-old Spaniard must win the year-end title to finish 2022 as world number one.
Victory against Norway's Casper Ruud in his final Green Group match may not be enough to keep his hopes alive.
Ruud, who has already beaten Auger-Aliassime, needs to just win a set against Fritz later on Tuesday to eliminate Nadal.
An early exit for Nadal would mean his 19-year-old compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, who won the US Open in September, would end the year as world number one.
"I mean, I don't think I forget how to play tennis, how to be strong enough mentally," said Nadal.
"I just need to recover all these positive feelings and all this confidence and all this strong mentality that I need to be at the level that I want to be.
"I don't know if I am going to reach that level again. But what I don't have any doubt [about], is that I'm going to die for it."
Nadal has now lost four matches in a row, going back to the US Open.
