Rafael Nadal officially presented with year-end number one honors in London

Spain’s Rafael Nadal was officially crowned as year-end world number one in the ATP World Tour Rankings in a special ceremony conducted at The O2, London on Saturday. He also received the ATP World Tour Comeback Player of the Year honors.

“One year ago, if you had told me I would have come back to be here… it’s been an amazing year,” said Nadal. “I can just thank my family. Without their support, this wouldn’t have been possible.”

“It’s been a very emotional year and ending here with so much support at The O2. It’s fantastic after what happened last year.

“I never had the feeling [that I am the best player in the world]. Being No. 1 is one of the most difficult things to do in our sport. You have to play well from the beginning to the end and there are lot of fantastic players. For most of this year, I played the best tennis of my career. It was a big surprise for me and I’m very happy.”

Nadal made a comeback on tour in February and went on to win 10 titles including two Grand Slam titles (French Open, US Open) and five ATP Masters 1000 titles. He’s currently in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals where he is slated to meet six-time winner Roger Federer.