LONDON, (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal woke up yesterday with a bruised ego to go along with his aching knees after losing his world number one ranking.
That status was snatched away from the 23-year-old Spaniard on Sunday the moment Roger Federer leapt high into the air to celebrate winning his sixth Wimbledon crown.
As Federer grabbed all the headlines for landing a record 15th grand slam title and declared “I don’t know if I’ve had a more happy period in my tennis life”, Nadal has undoubtedly endured the worst month of his career.
His four-year French Open reign was ended in the fourth round by eventual finalist Swede Robin Soderling but things went from bad to worse when he did not even manage to defend his Wimbledon crown after his body let him down.
His misfortune cleared the way for Federer to win the Paris-Wimbledon double and after his titanic All England Club win over Andy Roddick, the Swiss was back on top of the tennis summit and he likes the view from the top.
“I’m sad for Rafa that he didn’t get a chance to defend Wimbledon… and having a chance to defend his number one but at least I got it by winning Wimbledon which is at least fitting. It’s fantastic,” Federer, whose record run of 237 consecutive weeks as world number one was snapped by Nadal last August, told a small group of invited reporters yesterday.
Ominously, the Swiss feels he has regained the mental belief to begin another long stint as the world’s best player.
“When you lose number one, you never know if you’re going to return to it. I always thought it was easier staying number one than getting there,” said Federer, who will turn 28 next month.
“Some reason getting there was awfully hard. Back in 2002 and 03, I was playing unbelievable and still I wasn’t able to get to number one.
“Then it took a huge effort at the (2004) Australian Open to win there to finally get to number one. Once I was number one, everything just clicked and everything was easy.
“I beat all the other top 10 guys, I won every final I played and so I hope that’s going to return again and I’m able to dominate the fellow rivals again,” added Federer referring to his feat of stringing together 24 consecutive final victories.
Federer has already started a new run of titles, he is undefeated in his last three tournaments, but some critics were still asking if his success at the last two majors was devalued as he did not have to beat Nadal to win either.
“No. Not at all. Sure people might see it this way and I wish I could have played him again. But I’ve played Rafa here (at Wimbledon) three times,” said Federer, who has a 15-5 record in major finals with all five defeats coming against Nadal.
“I always say you’ve got to beat the guy who is opposite to you. Rafa was part of the French Open. I didn’t play him in the final and it didn’t take anything away in my opinion.
“Some people will always say ‘oh you should’ve beaten him to do that’. I disagree. (Bjorn) Borg walked away from tennis at 27, does that take anything away from John McEnroe or the legacy he had. No. You only have to beat who’s across the net and that’s what it takes.”
