Rafael Nadal Not Concerned With Being Atop The Tennis World

Every competitor dreams of first place. Whether it’s the World Series or World of Warcraft, everyone hungers for the win. Everyone except Rafael Nadal.

Reflecting on 2013, the 27-year-old Spaniard, who’d previously finished with the No. 1 ranking in 2008 and 2010, is happy enough to just be doing his thing on the court.

“I’ve already finished the year as the world No. 1,” Rafael Nadal told the Associated Press. “If it happens again, it will be perfect, but the story of my season is not the No. 1 spot. The story is that I was able to come back, to win and to be competitive again in a short spell of time.”

Nadal, currently atop the ATP rankings, has a chance to finish the year at No. 1. In order to do so, he’ll have to hold off Serbian sensation Novak Djokovic, who defeated him at the China Open, at the ATP World Tour Finals this week in London. But Rafael will have to do so on his least favorite playing surface: indoor hard courts.

Nadal recently called for the Finale to rotate surfaces, and offered simple logic to back it up.

“In the World Tour Finals, we qualify on all surfaces,” Rafael Nadal said “but the tour finals are always on hard courts.”

“It would be a little bit great — I’m not talking about me because I know it won’t happen for my generation, so I’m talking for the next generations — [to have] something more fair to the players and I think for the fans it would be something more interesting to change the surface every year.”

Rafael only needs two wins in the eight player round-robin to keep the top ranking, while Djokovic needs to win it all to unseat him. But Rafael Nadal isn’t worried either way.

“For me, the history of this year is not No. 1,” he said. “The history of this year, my year, is after seven months without any chance to compete, without the chance to play or practice tennis, I was able to be back and win from the beginning.”

What do you think of Rafael Nadal’s comeback? Could Rafael Nadal win it all in London? Is Rafael Nadal correct about rotating surfaces?