Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal will drop to world number two when the rankings are revised on Monday. In this picture, Rafael Nadal of Spain shows his dejection during his straight sets defeat against Dominic Thiem of Austria in their quarter final match during day seven of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica on May 11, 2018, in Madrid, Spain. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal made a passionate defense after he lost his world number one status to Roger Federer on Friday when he lost in straight sets to Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open.

The Spaniard had to defend his title in the Spanish capital to stay atop the rankings, but failed to do so allowing Federer to retake the lead despite not having played since March 24.

Nadal was not overly concerned as the Monte Carlo Masters in April was the first tournament he completed since losing the final of the Shanghai Masters in October last year. He struggled with injuries during that time, which caused him to miss the latter stages of last season and the start of the 2018 campaign.

The 31-year-old suffered a hip injury at the Australian Open in January this year, which again saw him miss three months until his return prior to the start of the clay court season in April. Nadal lost the points he had accumulated between January and March in 2017 due to the injury this year.

“You cannot be No. 1 five months without competing,” Nadal said after his loss to Thiem, as quoted by the Express. “Of course, this is the ATP ranking. We’re not talking about something that you have maybe some more margin."

“I think from Shanghai till Monte-Carlo, I hadn’t finished a single tournament. We’re talking about a lot of months that I gave up. If we were talking about the ranking of one year, if I played really good in one period of the year, which I’ve done, let’s be clear, I have been playing really good recently.”

Nadal will not make up the lost points during his three month absence as he won four titles during the clay court season in 2017. He needed to defend all his titles to keep the number one ranking, but failed in the third hurdle — the recent loss to Thiem in Madrid — after retaining his titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

The Spaniard made it clear that the ATP ranking does not concern him as much as the Race to London. He is currently number three on that list behind Federer and Juan Martin del Potro and he can make it to the top if he wins the upcoming Italian Open and the second Grand Slam of the year at Roland Garros.

“Last year I made it to the finals in every single tournament. This year until now I had only one or two tournaments that I had played. This is the reality of this year,” the Spaniard explained.

“Five months without playing in a tournament means that I cannot be No. 1. I’m not even thinking about that. I’m not going to keep the No. 1 today. At the end of the year we will see what happens."

“But I think from January till Monte-Carlo I played zero tournaments. These are three months or more given away. This is a lot of months given away to the other players,” he said.

“Having said this, I think I placed myself in a good position more or less. I am No. 3 in the race of the year, which is the most important thing. I still have two good weeks on clay, and then I’ll keep on moving forward. This is the reality,” Nadal added.

Nadal has always maintained that rankings do not concern him too much, but admitted he preferred being at the top of the pile rather than at number two, three or five. However, with the number of injury struggles the Spanish tennis icon has had, Nadal is just happy to be healthy and compete every week on the ATP Tour.

“Talking about No. 1, of course I prefer to be No. 1 than 2, and No. 3 than 5. I have said this a million times. I lost the No. 1 before, but what makes me happy is I feel fit, can compete with possibilities every single week. This is my final goal: to be happy. That’s what I’m working on,” Nadal said.

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