Nadal guaranteed end of year #1 ... ATP

[pound cat]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/16092010/58/nadal-guaranteed-year-end-top-spot.html



Spain's Rafael Nadal is guaranteed finishing the year on top of the rankings after winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, the ATP have confirmed.


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..The 24-year-old has been virtually unstoppable since the beginning of the European claycourt season and on Monday completed his career Grand Slam by beating Novak Djokovic to win the US Open at Flushing Meadows. He is the youngest player to have won all four Grand Slams in the professional era.

"It has been an incredible season - one of my best ever, if not the best," Nadal said in a statement on Thursday.

"Winning the US Open together with Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as the three back-to-back (ATP World Tour) Masters 1000s in Europe, was not easy.

"I worked very hard to get back to the top and it feels really good to know I will end the year as number one."

It is the second time in three years that Nadal will finish the year as number one and were it not for an injury-plagued 2009 when he could not defend his Wimbledon crown he could have topped the rankings three years in a row.

Nadal and Roger Federer are the only players since 2000 to clinch the year-end top spot so early, with Swiss Federer achieving the feat in 2004 and 2006.

The Mallorcan will be officially crowned as the 2010 ATP World Tour Champion at the season-ending World Tour Finals in London in November.



Nadal, like Federer worked has very hard for everything he has achieved in tennis.

Well done Rafa! Vamos!!!

 

[decades]

Nadal should get SI sportsmen of the year. That would really frost Rogie wouldn't it?

 

[KingOfTennis]

well i mean nadal is like on what 12k points and the next person (djokovic) is like on 7k... If you use your heads like most people on here, then you will see its pretty much impossible for nadal to drop his #1 spot for the rest of 2010.

 

[pound cat]

well i mean nadal is like on what 12k points and the next person (djokovic) is like on 7k... If you use your heads like most people on here, then you will see its pretty much impossible for nadal to drop his #1 spot for the rest of 2010.

Yes, dear. Most of us already knew that. But ATP has made it offical. Just makiing it official, King.

 

[tacou]

ya john mc said something about Fed still having a chance of ending year end #1....even though nadal has basically double his points in september?

 

[jackson vile]

Nadal should get SI sportsmen of the year. That would really frost Rogie wouldn't it?

No just his fans LOL

 

[selesvido]

Good for him. He is by far the best player in the World now.

 

[Edberg]

Well no sheet he only won 3 majors. What a suprise.

 

[bolo]

Good call Decades, nadal should be a huge candidate for SI sportsman of the year. The FO-W-USO-no 1. quadruple at 24 is just too good. Who are the other candidates this year btw?

Given that nadal is now in his prime he will also likely escape the SI jinx (knock on wood) so another accomplishment for the wikipedia page, Bamos!

 

[statto]

You heard it here first:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=348475

 

[mandy01]

Given that nadal is now in his prime he will also likely escape the SI jinx (knock on wood) so another accomplishment for the wikipedia page, Bamos!

What is SI jinx ?

 

[borg number one]

As for the SI "Sportsman of the Year"topic, who knows? I think it's possible given the year it's had, but yes, certain athletes from other major sports here in the U.S. could edge him out (NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball. Kobe Bryant could very well grab the award since he lead the Lakers to another championship and he started getting folks to really compare him to the great M. Jordan.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...nd-improved-bench-make-the-lakers-unstoppable


As to the OP's tread topic of Nadal and him ending the year as #1, what I did find telling was what I read from a Nadal interview (from the Nadal website today). His answers are very good in my opinion. His approach to the Game, constant improvement and adaptability have all been instrumental to his career. Yet, what really stood out to me is this part of an answer he provided during the US Open post match interview session.

My goal is all the time and all my life was the same, is keep improving and feel myself better player next year than what I felt this year.

Here's a link and a portion of the interview below.

http://www.rafaelnadal.com/content/my-goal-finish-season-better

Q.I'd like to know, now that you lost only five times the serve in all tournament, only one set, what is your goal now? Because you won already everything, Davis Cup, Olympic Games, all the four Slams. Is the major goal to reach Roger or something else?

RAFAEL NADAL: My goal is all the time and all my life was the same, is keep improving and feel myself better player next year than what I felt this year. Being better player doesn't mean you gonna win more than you did, because win or lose sometimes is part of the moment and part of the confidence. But my goal remains for me that the Masters Cup is the big, yeah, probably the last big tournament that I didn't win. That's true is the most difficult title for me to win, because we play it in indoor, and when indoor, indoor very quick surface, so gonna be always very difficult if we don't change that. But at the same time is a challenge for me to keep improving to have the chance to play well there and to have the chance to win. So that's what I gonna try this year. For me right now the next goal is try to finish the season much better than what I did in other years. The last part of the season always was difficult for me. Well, today it started to be less difficult, that's true. But, yeah, I want to finish the season if it's possible with a good feeling.

 

[batz]

The guy has won 3 MS in a row and 3 slams in row this season. He's clearly head and shoulders above everyone else at the moment - no surprise to see he's got year end number 1 sewn up.