Today afternoon in London, Rafael Nadal was honoured as year-end ATP World Tour No. 1 for the fourth time in his career.
Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman and President, presented Rafa with the trophy in an on-court ceremony.
Rafa:
It’s been a fantastic season, a very emotional one after what I’ve been going through with injuries. I never thought I’d be getting this trophy this time last year.
None of this would have been possible without my team and family. Many thanks for the support. There have been tough moments but we kept believing.
I want to say thanks all of the tournaments over the year and all of the fans.
You have been a huge support during the whole year in every event. Without all of you nothing would be the same.
Thanks very much and see you tomorrow on court!
At 31, Rafa is the oldest player to finish year-end No. 1 in Emirates ATP Rankings history (since 1973). Having previously finished at the top in 2008, 2010 and 2013, our champ became the first player to hold, lose and regain the year-end No. 1 on three occasions.
He is also the first player to finish No. 1 four times in non-consecutive years, the first aged over-30 and the first to finish in the top spot four years since he last achieved the feat (2013). The nine-year gap between his first year-end No. 1 season (2008) and his last (2017) is also a record.
He is the seventh player to finish the year at the pinnacle of men’s professional tennis on four or more occasions, following in the footsteps of Pete Sampras (6), Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer (5), Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Novak Djokovic (4).
Source: ATP World Tour
Congratulations Rafa! 🤗😘
– You’re amazing 🎾💪🏼😃🏆1️⃣🍀👑😍
Rafa I am so glad for you.
Congratulations.
I didn’t hear your acceptance speech but from what I have read it was great.
All best wishes for Monday and ongoing,
Love and prayers,
AlaineXXSydneyXXAustraliaXX
!!!!!felicitaciones !!muy merecido tu numero 1 del mundo Marle Cubillas tel 4636234 cel 999171036
El domingo, 12 de noviembre de 2017 11:00:17 a. m. GMT-5, Rafael Nadal Fans escribió: #yiv4535002639 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv4535002639 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv4535002639 a.yiv4535002639primaryactionlink:link, #yiv4535002639 a.yiv4535002639primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv4535002639 a.yiv4535002639primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv4535002639 a.yiv4535002639primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv4535002639 WordPress.com | Rafael Nadal Fans posted: “Today afternoon in London, Rafael Nadal was honoured as year-end ATP World Tour No. 1 for the fourth time in his career.Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman and President, presented Rafa with the trophy in an on-court ceremony.At 31, Rafa is ” | |
Yeah ! So proud of him !! He is just amazing !!! I love him 😍
Congratulations-it is well deserved.🏆Enjoy the moment as you have earned the accolades. Good luck-and stay healthy🍀🤗💕
well done you,your the best ever tennis player in my eyes,well done your team,this is another cup l will see when we come back next year to your home in mallorca vamos rafa.
Well done, Rafa. What an amazing year. What joy you have brought to all us fans. Whatever happens this week you are our Number 1. To those belittling Rafa’s achievement this year because of the head to head with Roger, check out the stats for 2004 and 2006 when Roger won the year end Number 1 slot, but lost the head to head with Rafa.
Muchas felicidadesmi campeon tu te lo mereces por tu esfuerzo y tu excelente juego, buena suerte para el torneo de finales VAMOS RAFA
Congrats Rafa! You deserve to be no 1☝️
Hard work pays off and also congrats to your unbelievable team, a great effort!👍😘
From Moya’s interview today.
“He has never won the ATP Finals before and he mentioned the other day that the tournament always being played on indoor hard court is a factor in that. Do you think Rafa can beat all those top rivals on this surface?
Of course he can. He probably beat all of them during his career in these conditions. So I don’t know exactly why in the past he wasn’t able to win this tournament. Hopefully this is the last year where he hasn’t been able to win here. But usually it takes for him a while to start the tournament but in the Grand Slams or other events, the first couple of rounds are guys who are outside the top-50 or top-70, here the first match is against a top-10 player already, so maybe that’s one of the reasons but I don’t know exactly.
This is my first year with him in the team. Try to always analyse why things are happening but let’s see how it goes this year.”
“Anything in particular that jumped at you?
The mentality he has, that never giving up attitude, I don’t think he gave up not even one point this year, so that’s something that you rarely see in all the other players, how he’s able to turn things around when he’s in trouble, that thing still amazes me. I don’t know if you can teach that or a player can learn that but it’s something, after what I’ve seen all these years, it keeps me really amazed what he’s doing.”
Rafa congratulations ,His speech was perfect.vamosssssssssss champ you deserve ,I’m happy for you and your time.vamossssssssssss 🎾🎾🎾🎾👍👍👍👍😘😘😘😘🇺🇸❤️
Maria (snake Island)
Congratulations are well in order for our dear champion Rafa for claiming the honours of the year end No 1 for the 4th time.
Recall that good, old Aunt Maria (Siberia) it was who stuck out her neck that Rafa would have an early exit in Paris, which as usual came to pass. Well, good old Aunt Maria is not done yet. With good, old Felix the cat on her laps and licking her fingers, She closed her eyes and out came the following predictions:
1. RF will win the 2017 year end finals.
2. RN (Rafa Nadal) knee issues will flare up again before the 2nd week and he will be forced to withdraw by next week. His doctors will subsequently advise him to avoid AO 2018 if he wants to play/win FO 2018.
3. AO 2018 Final will be between RF and ND. RF will win his 20th GS title to finally seal his GOAT status, but sadly this will be his last grand slam title.
Felix the cat suddenly began meowing which brought good old Aunt Maria back to the physical realm. End of prediction.
But, as always, we’d see………………hmmmn
VERY DELIGHTED AND EXTREMELY HAPPY, FOR YOU RAFA DEAR. YOU BRING JOY TO SO MANY OF US. YOU ALWAYS GIVE YOUR 100%, FOR ANY TOURNAMENT. YOU ARE MY SUPER STAR.
LOVE YOU ALWAYS RAFA DEAR. ALL THE BEST FOR THE MATCH. 👍👍👍💘💓💕💖💗💙💚💝💞💟❣😙😙😙😙😙😙😙
A small video here in case you missed it:
youtu.be/AMlwQXCRAnU (please copy and paste it onto your web browser’s URL bar since outside links and media are now prohibited on this site).
Huge congratulations to Rafa and everyone – his team, family, fans, academy. It’s been such a journey. I still remember last December vividly while counting each day for Rafa to come back, receiving the news that Moya would become his coach just days before his first evet at Abu Dhabi which he then won in style. How time flies. 🙂
Will be rewatching some of his matches this year off-season. Now I’m just sitting back and enjoy every minute of his last event of the season, hoping he will transfer his not being 100% to smarter play and being calmer.
He wants to conclude his overall incredible year on his terms and I guess also to send a great “farewell” to Toni, so whatever way to play well it is, I believe he will find it. But mostly I hope he will send Toni off being healthy and with absolutely no regrets. 🙂
Oh sorry, my mistake. The video was already posted in the article. 🙂
So happy for you. Vamos Rafa <3
Lovely speech by Rafa and I’m so glad he said “See you tomorrow, on court” – phew! It’s been a rollercoaster few weeks to be a Rafa fan, but totally worth it as always. Good luck this week Rafa, it’s great having you here in the UK!
You mean a few months, a few years, many years, jas? 🙂
Oh yes, but only have the emotional capacity for the here and now 🙂
What a lovely sight, Rafa kissing the trophy! A very nice acceptance speech too. Amidst all the speculation about whether he’ll be fit to play at the O2, it’s good to hear Rafa say that we’ll see him tomorrow.
According to Leif Shiras, who was watching Rafa practice, there are “….some promising signs for Rafael Nadal. He practised yesterday and he’s practicing again right at this moment without any strapping on his knee. That has to be good news as he looks to get ready for his Monday night match against David Goffin…..
The question obviously for him is going to be one match, can he go to a second match and could he possibly play three to five matches over the course of the next week……He will have days off in between, that is certainly good news for him as well. But potentially some good signs today for Rafa on the practice courts”
He went on to say “I guess the irony in all this is that the man across the net from him (in practice), Pablo Carreno Busta, fellow Spaniard, is the altenate. Should Rafa pull out, it would be Carreno Busta who would take his spot in play”.
Of course a practice session is a completely different ball game to a real match (no pun intended). Let’s hope that Rafa can see it through and Pablo won’t have to find himself on the match court!😀
Yes, good to hear Rafa say that. I watched today’s practice against Pablo on the ATP site (my comment is on a previous post here). I wish Rafa well and hope he can at least get through the round robin matches and give a good account of himself – it would be such a shame if he had to withdraw after working so hard to be at the tournament.
Congrats Rafa. You looked so good n unassuming, as usual! Thanks for always thanking us, your devoted Fans. Look forward to seeing you play tomorrow. I pray you keep fit n have no pain. Don’t feel bad to pull out if your injury plays up. Vamos Rafa. God bless you. Your Aussie Abuela Nan Shirley. 🐂🏆👑⛵️🎉🎉
Thanks for making me a fan. About time as I’m 83. Good luck in London.
Hmmmm i thought he would have bitten the trophy instead of kissing?
Anyway, Vamos!
Hope you can get the best result possible without hurting your knees.
Congratulation Rafa try to win Nitto good luck
At the rate things are going Rafa will be number 1 again in 2022, the year he turns 36, which is not impossible considering Roger at 36 today is number 2 and only just a few points behind the number 1.
Eres especial Rafa …ser n.1 en cuatro veces es algo k nadie lo harà…salir d tus lesiones y volver a ser n.1 es algo dificil no casi imposible d hacer…ojalà t lleves este trofeo k t falta…pero este master se tenia k hacer en diferentes pistas xk siempre llevan ventaja los k son mejores en ellas …pero Rafa SIEMPRE N.1
Another trophy for your museum Rafa. Let’s see if you can get another one this week. Stay healthy.👍
Just saw it live . Wowwwwww. Rafa is a legend . He was awesome & humble as always . Vamos Rafa . What’s magnificent year for an incredible player . So delighted . Cheers Rafa . ✌️✌️👍👍👍👌👌👏👏👏👌👌👌
Me too. Wasn’t Rafa wonderful! His speech was perfect and he looked so handsome. I was so happy for him and his team.