Rafael Nadal will lose his top rank to Roger Federer from the next week after losing to Dominic Thiem in the Madrid quarters. That was a bit expected during the clay court season as Rafa had to win all his matches to retain his rank.
However, Nadal doesn’t really care about that because he has stayed at the top of the rankings already for long in his career (173 weeks) and he can celebrate the fact that his fitness his back.
You cannot be world no.1 without playing 5 months. NADAL
Soon after his loss, Rafa commented
“You cannot be No 1 five months without competing. Of course, this is the ATP ranking. We’re not talking about something that you have maybe some more margin.
I think from Shanghai till Monte-Carlo, I hadn’t finished a single tournament. We’re talking about a lot of months that I gave up.
But I think from January till Monte-Carlo I played zero tournaments. These are three months or more given away. This is a lot of months given away to the other players.
Having said this, I think I placed myself in a good position more or less. I am No 3 in the race of the year, which is the most important thing. I still have two good weeks on clay, and then I’ll keep on moving forward. This is the reality.
Talking about No 1, of course, I prefer to be No 1 than 2, and No 3 than 5. I have said this a million times. I lost the No 1 before, but what makes me happy is I feel fit, can compete with possibilities every single week. This is my final goal: to be happy. That’s what I’m working on.”
Rafa no.1 next week?
Even if the Spaniard doesn’t care that much, he as already the opportunity to regain the top spot in the rankings if he wins starting from next week if he wins the upcoming ATP1000 in Rome.
| LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE |
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