Rafael Nadal has a chance to become world number one this week but he'll need to go undefeated in Cincinnati and lift the trophy.
Even if Nadal gets that done the Spaniard won't be ensured a number one ranking as he needs Medvedev to lose before the quarterfinals as well. While he appreciates the chance to become number one again, Nadal is mostly focused on improving his tennis and getting some matches in before the US Open. He's coming from a long layoff so for it would be expected for him to lose:
"The thing is, at the end of the day when you play this sport you know that at the end of the week there’s gonna be only one guy with the trophy. The normal thing every week is to lose. The dynamics and the sport changes very quickly and you need to be ready to accept both things, the victories and the amazing things that can happen but at the same time, the injuries the tough moments, the losses. It's something that is part of our sport and we need to deal with that."
Nadal also touched upon Carlos Alcaraz who himself experienced the harshness or reality in the past few weeks losing a couple of matches he was widely expected to win. Nadal explained that he doesn't see Alcaraz struggling with this for too long:
"But of course, when you are very high in the ranking, you arrive to a tournament and the expectations are ‘okay, maybe I need to win this tournament.’ Then the situation, the approach and mentality change a little bit. But I don't think it's something that is affecting him [Alcaraz] a lot. I think he's great and I think he's having an amazing season. I don't see him having any problem handling this kind of pressure."
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