Days after they squared off in a charity exhibition in Kazakhstan, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal shared the practice court in Paris.
The world's top two ranked players swapped shots in practice and will trade places in the rankings.
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Nadal will supplant Djokovic as world No. 1 on November 4th—regardless of results at this week's Rolex Paris Masters—and the US Open champion is aiming to finish as year-end No. 1.
"I said during the whole season is fantastic," Nadal said of his chase for the top spot. "I prefer to be No. 1 to No. 2 and No. 2 to No. 3. And of course, finish the year world No. 1 is something special, and I would love to make that happen."
The 33-year-old Spaniard did not play the Asian swing as Nadal married his fiancée Maria "Xisca" Perello at the famed La Fortaleza castle in the couple's native Mallorca on October 19th.
The 12-time Roland Garros champion has not contested the Rolex Paris Masters final since he fell to David Nalbandian in the 2007 championship match. The 19-time Grand Slam champion, who will play Paris, the ATP Finals in London and the Davis Cup final in Madrid, is bidding to hold the year-end world No. 1 ranking for the fifth time and make history as the oldest year-end No. 1.
"But as you know, I didn't went to China. That's something sad for me, but I need to find my priorities," Nadal said. "As I said during the last couple of years, is not my goal to be No. 1. It's about I need to organize my calendar to play as long as possible.
"If with my calendar at the end of the season I am number one, super happy. But I will not try to follow or to make extra things to be No. 1. I just going to do my normal schedule. And that's the way you need to take decisions, and my decision is to try to do the right things to play as long as possible to give me more chances to play more years on the tour than try to be No. 1."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy