Number one ranking no longer the fight, says Nadal

PARIS (AFP) – Rafael Nadal, who makes his return to the court at the Paris Masters after a two-month break, insisted Tuesday he was no longer fighting to be world number one.

"I just fight to keep being competitive in every event that I play," said Nadal, currently second in the ATP rankings behind fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcarez.

Nadal, winner of 92 ATP singles titles, has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks of his glittering career and has finished as the year-end No. 1 on five occasions.

"I will not fight anymore to be No. 1," he said.

"I did in the past. I achieved that goal a couple of times in my career and 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."

Nadal will take on either compatriot Roberto Bautista or American Tommy Paul first up in the French capital, where he has won a record 14 French Open titles.

"I m happy to be on the tour again after a while," Nadal said. "I was not able to play much the last five months.

"So, yeah, always happy to be back in a city that everybody knows how important is for me, even if it s true that at the same time that in this (Masters) event I never had a lot of positive things in my career."

Nadal, who said it had been "tough" to leave home and his three-week-old son, also played down concerns over his fitness.

"Let s see on the competitive level how I manage," he said. "In older bodies like my one, it s easier to know how the things are going when you are playing tournaments in a row.

"When you are coming back from a period of time outside of competition, it s difficult to know how you re going to be playing, how your body is going to respond because it s obvious that the tour level is different."