Rafael Nadal is a different man. He’s losing sleep over his newborn baby and not so much over the No. 1 ranking.
Even with all of his absences, Nadal has a shot at finishing the season as the world No. 1. He has racked up 5,820 points, trailing only the top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, who has 6,650. But Nadal made it clear on Tuesday about his priorities when he was peppered with questions about fighting for the year end No. 1 spot.
Nadal has achieved the coveted year-end No. 1 ranking five times, tied with Roger Federer, and trailing only Novak Djokovic (7) and Pete Sampras (6).
“I don’t fight to be No. 1,” Nadal said at a Paris Masters news conference. “I will not fight anymore to be No. 1. I did that in the past. I achieved that and I have been very, very happy and proud about that.”
For now, he wants to be a No. 1 dad.
He’s come to Paris for his first tournament since his wife Maria Francisca Perello gave birth to their first child — a boy — in early October. Nadal admitted he’s approaching things differently now that he’s a father. “It’s quite interesting how, even after (knowing him only) two or three weeks, leave your son at home and not be able to see him… you start missing him,” Nadal said.
“We are lucky today that, with the technology, everything, we can do video calls any time that you want.” Nadal received a first round bye here. He hasn’t played competitively since September when he partnered with Federer in doubles at the Laver Cup to celebrate the last match of the retiring Swiss great.
Nadal has struggled with injuries and played only 10 tournaments. He suffered a stress fracture in his ribs at Indian Wells in March. Then an abdominal injury forced him to pull out of the Wimbledon semifinals and affected him the whole summer.
“It’s obvious that when I was No. 1 for the first time in my career in 2008, I really wanted to be there,” Nadal said, “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.
“Today is a different story for me. I don’t know how many events I played, like 10, 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.”
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest men’s No.1 in the 50-year history of the ATP rankings in September when he won his first major crown at the U.S. Open. “It was my dream to win a grand slam, to become No. 1 of the world, but I didn’t expect to do that at 19 years old,” Alcaraz said.