By Chris Soderstrom
Having reached his goal of reaching World No. 1, Beijing Olympic gold medallist Rafael Nadal has a new goal.
The Spaniard wants to hold onto the ranking until the end of the year and figures the best way to do so is to do well at the US Open, the last Grand Slam on the tennis calendar.
“I want to be No.1 until the end of the year and a good result at the US Open would mathematically give me that option,” Nadal told sports daily Marca.
“I don’t think I have more pressure than before when I fought to maintain my second place ranking. It will be something similar. I continue to desire to win titles as before.”
Keen to get ideal preparation, the 22-year-old flew to New York for the US Open a day after claiming Olympic gold and will not know of his first match-up as the official No. 1 until the draw is announced tomorrow.
Nadal held the No. 2 ranking for a record 160 weeks until toppling Roger Federer on Monday.