World No.1 Rafael Nadal has said he is taking a ‘step-by-step’ approach to his return to the tour as he makes his final preparations ahead of the Paris Masters.
Nadal is set to return to action for the first time since the US Open after missing the Asian swing of the tour due to a right knee injury. He hasn’t played a competitive match since retiring during his semi-final clash against Juan Martin del Potro at Flushing Meadows on September 7th.
“I slow down a little bit the intensity of practice of course. I stopped for a while after the US Open so then I started to practise slowly, step by step. And that’s it. Here I am. Happy to be here (in Paris).” Nadal told reporters on Sunday.
“It’s nothing new for me. It’s something that happened in my career a couple of times. So more or less, we know the process and we know the things that work good and don’t work for us. And we try to do our way with calm and being staying positive every day.
“Knowing that the things are not changing very quickly with these type of injuries. And that’s it. We know that. We take care about all the feelings. And we go day by day.”
Despite his credentials, Nadal is yet to win the Paris Masters in his career. His best performance to date was back in 2007 when he finished runner-up to David Nalbandian. Since then, Nadal has reached the semifinals on two other occasions in 2009 and 2013. Looking ahead to his upcoming bid, the Spaniard admits that his focus remains on his health and not the title.
“I am not thinking about big improvements or big things. I am just thinking about small improvements, and that’s the goal.” He explained.
The fight for the top
An early exit this week could see Nadal lose his world No.1 spot. A position he has held since June. As it currently stands, he leads Novak Djokovic by 215 points in the rankings. In order to retain the top spot, Nadal needs to either advance further in the tournament than Djokovic or lose in the same round as him.
“My main goal is to be back on court, keep being happy playing tennis and then things that can happen or not, let’s see.“ Nadal said during an interview with atpworldtour.com.
“I’m going to fight as strong as I can to win as many matches as possible and of course I would love to be No 1 but I am just here to try my best every day.”
Trying to stop his Serbian rival from overtaking him will be a tough mission for Nadal. A resurgent Djokovic has dominated the second half of the season on the tour. Since the start of the grass-court season in June, he has won 31 out of 33 matches. Claiming titles at Wimbledon, Cincinnati, US Open and Shanghai.
“We are very, very pleased with what was achieved in the last four, five months,” said Djokovic. “And with Rafa’s injury and him not playing China and so forth, it put me in a position to be very close to him in the rankings and to fight for a year-end No 1.
“So of course right now I’m aware of it and I’m going to give my very best to try to achieve it.”
Top seed Nadal, who has a first round bye, will play either Fernando Verdasco or Jeremy Chardy in his opening match in Paris. Meanwhile, Djokovic will start against either Joao Sousa or Marco Cecchinato.
