Spaniard Rafael Nadal receives Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award
Ending Roger Federer's six in a row streak, Ranked no. 1 in the World Spain's Rafael Nadal won the Association of Tennis Professionals tour's Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award for the first time in his career.
Upon winning three of the Grand Slam tournaments played in the year 2010, tour players voted for Nadal resulting in him getting the award.
Nevertheless, Swiss man Roger Federer is still the most popular player on tour as he won the Fan favorite award for the eighth time in a row marking a record for the professional. According to the tour, Federer got 47% of the votes compared to the 42% that
Nadal earned. Additionally, winning 44% of fan votes, Bob and Mike Bryan won the most popular doubles pair award for the sixth time in a row.
As for Federer, the professional does not seem to want anything more but to be back on top, getting the World no. 1 rank back from Nadal. In regard of the ATP London Masters that loom, Roger stated, "Sure, it's going to be challenging. It's going to be very
difficult because Rafa is playing well and I have to defend my points in Australia and he has no points to defend here in London. That's why things look very good for him over the next few months. Right now the No. 1 ranking is not something I have in my mind".
"My goal is to play well here in London and then prepare well for next season and then hopefully, at some stage, I'll try get it back...I've played four of the last five weeks and my game is right where I want it to be. It's the ninth time for me [in the ATP
finals] and I know the drill. I feel like I've got one more tournament left in me. My body is not screaming for a vacation quite yet”, added Federer.
As for Nadal, the Spaniard seems to be all set to battle it out at the ATP London Masters this year. Dismally, Rafa left London last year with three loses without winning a single set in the initial few rounds.
In reference to last year, the professional exclaimed, “I’ll try my best to change the situation this year. Last year was bad. This tournament is a more difficult one for me because of the surface, because of the opponents, I am not out for revenge, but
I’ll try to do better this year. The ball is little dead. It doesn’t have very much lift”.
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