• Rafael Nada who has won 22 Grand Slam tournaments is competing in this week’s Paris Masters
• The No. 2 contends that winning the No. 1 spot at the end of the season is not the reason he will be back this year
• Rafael still has the chance to make more firsts over the coming weeks at the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals in Turin, two competitions he hasn’t yet won

Rafael Nadal is back on tour for the first time since becoming a father, although he acknowledges that being away from home is now even more difficult.

The 36-year-old Spanish player who has won 22 Grand Slam tournaments is competing in this week’s Paris Masters while his son is yet three weeks old.

“Yeah, different approach to usual. Always have been tough to leave home, honestly,” Speaking to the media in Paris, Nadal stated.

The No. 2 contends that winning the No. 1 spot at the end of the season is not the reason he will be back this year.

“I don’t fight to be No. 1,” said Nadal. “I just fight to keep being competitive in every event that I played. “Something that I said since long time ago.

“I will not fight anymore to be No. 1. I achieved that goal a couple of times of my career that I have been very, very happy and proud about achieving that. But I am in a moment of my tennis career that I don’t fight to be No. 1.”

Carlos Alcaraz, a fellow Spaniard, recently won the US Open and is currently ranked No. 1 at the age of 19; whereas Nadal was also winning significant tournaments as a youth, it took him longer to overtake him. Although Nadal won 11 championships in 2005, including the French Open and nine of them on clay, he didn’t take the top spot until 2008, when he also won Wimbledon.

“It’s obvious that when I was No. 1 for the first time in my career in 2008, I really wanted to be there, 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. I had somebody in front of me like Roger [Federer], no?,” said Nadal.

“So in some way I think I had been very consistent. I think I deserve to be there, no, because it’s nice to arrive to No. 1, takes some time, and you need to fight for it, and that helps to be even more consistent, no? Today is a different story for me. I don’t know how many events I played, like ten, 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.”

Nadal has nevertheless had a fantastic season, winning the Australian Open and French Open despite suffering from injuries at Indian Wells, Wimbledon, and the US Open. However, he is currently only competing in a select few tournaments.

He still has the chance to make more firsts over the coming weeks at the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals in Turin, two competitions he hasn’t yet won.

“Let’s see on the competitive level how I manage. It’s always an issue, I mean, in older bodies like my one, it’s easier to know how the things are going when you are playing tournaments in a row,” Nadal said. “When you are coming back from a period of time outside of the competition, it’s difficult to know… how you’re going to be playing, how your body gonna respond, because it’s obvious that the tour level is different than the amount of practice that I can have at home.

“It’s true that have been an amazing year in terms of results, but at the same time is true that have been a tough year in terms of injuries. Just excited to be here. I am here to try my best.”

As the second seed, Nadal will face Tommy Paul in his opening match at Paris-Bercy.

Also Read

Noah Rubin comes up short in tennis, ready to walk tall in pickleball

Noah Rubin, who won junior Wimbledon in 2014, has quit tennis to...