The No. 2 could still finish the season holding the No. 1 ranking, but insists that’s not why he’s competing again this season.
“I don’t fight to be No. 1,” said Nadal. “I just fight to keep being competitive in every event that I played. “Something that I said since long time ago.
“I will not fight anymore to be No. 1. I achieved that goal a couple of times of my career that I have been very, very happy and proud about achieving that. But I am in a moment of my tennis career that I don’t fight to be No. 1.”
Fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is currently No. 1 at just 19 years old, having just won the US Open, and though Nadal was also winning big titles as a teenager, he took longer to reach the top spot. Nadal won 11 titles in 2005, nine of them on clay including the French Open, but didn’t reach No. 1 until 2008, when he also won Wimbledon.
“It’s obvious that when I was No. 1 for the first time in my career in 2008, I really wanted to be there, because I felt that 2005, ’06, ’07, including ’08, I was doing amazing results, winning a lot of tournaments, having a lot of points on the ranking system. I had somebody in front of me like Roger [Federer], no?,” said Nadal.
“So in some way I think I had been very consistent. I think I deserve to be there, no, because it’s nice to arrive to No. 1, takes some time, and you need to fight for it, and that helps to be even more consistent, no? Today is a different story for me. I don’t know how many events I played, like ten, and I finished eight. Difficult to be No. 1 like this. But happy to be in that position that says when I was playing I was playing well.”