Not Like Winning A Slam – What The Year-End No.1 Spot Means To Rafael Nadal

LONDON: No matter if he plays on Saturday in the ATP Finals or not, Rafael Nadal will still be on top of the world. Well, when it comes to the ATP rankings he is at least.

Friday at the season-ending event saw a double celebration for the 33-year-old king of clay. Besides his gut-busting win over Stefanos Tsitsipas, he was officially declared the year-end No.1 during a trophy ceremony following his match. It is the fifth time he has claimed the honor and he remains the only Spanish player in history to do so. Nadal is one of three from his country to be ranked No.1 in the Open Era.

“I said during the whole time No. 1 was not the main goal for me,” Nadal told reporters in London.
“I was not following the No.1 (ranking). I’m doing my normal calendar because you have to make decisions to try to play as long as possible or to try to fight for No. 1.”
“My decision or our (my team) decision was to try to do things to play as long as possible, so that’s why I tried to do the conservative calendar in terms of saving the body and everything.”

Nadal’s conservative schedule has seen him play 13 ATP tournaments in 2019, including this week’s ATP Finals. Five of which took place on his beloved clay. As of November 15th, he has won 53 out of 60 matches played. Reaching the semi-finals or better at 11 out of the 13 tournaments.

The question is how does the year-end top spot compare to other milestones in the eyes of Nadal? A man who has won the most professional clay-court titles in history and has the second-highest grand slam singles tally among the men’s elite. One adrift from Roger Federer’s record of 20.

“I know it is something big, and I know it is something important because to achieve this you have to play well 11 months. To win a Grand Slam you have to play well two weeks.” He compared.
“For me personally, when you win a Grand Slam, winning the last point, and that feeling you can’t have it here (in London). That’s the big difference.”

Not a usual presentation

Some may be baffled by the decision to present the trophy to Nadal on Friday afternoon. Whilst he earned the position on Thursday, the actual ranking system doesn’t officially get updated until Monday. Furthermore, does it really make any sense doing something like this in the middle of a tournament?

Regardless of the criticisms, Nadal doesn’t care. He is just happy to be the player on the receiving end of it.

“This trophy is the work of the whole year, a great year in all terms. To have this trophy with me is a big personal satisfaction.” He states.
“I think we did a lot of things well during the whole year.’

Reflecting on his 2019 journey, the Spaniard believes it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of his loved ones. Stating that they have played a bigger role in helping him compared to previous years. During the first half of the season, he had been blighted by a knee injury. More recently, he has experienced problems with both his hand and abdomen.

“The team and the family played a very important role this year, even more than other times because have been some tough moments at the beginning of the season in terms of physical issues that demoralize me a little bit.” He concluded.

Nadal has become the oldest-ever year-end No.1 since the ranking system was introduced back in 1973.

Nadal’s end-of-year rankings