Rafael Nadal: Full speech transcription after finishing the year as world number one

Rafael Nadal finished the year as the world number one for the fifth time and was given the trophy at the end of his match against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday evening, November 15. Nadal, however, was not able to qualify for the semifinals fo the year-ending ATP Finals tournament. Nadal won the Roland Garros and the US Open this year and was the runners up in the Australian Open.

READ: ATP Finals 2019: Watch Roger Federer's Hilarious Reply After Win Vs Novak Djokovic

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In his speech, Spaniard highlighted how he was thankful for the support he received from the family, team, fan sand the sponsors. Here is the full text of his speech: 

First of all, thanks Chris (Kermode) for everything. It’s a real honour receive this trophy from you so many thanks for all the things that you did well for our sport. Honestly, what can I say? I am super happy. Honestly, after all the things that I went through in my career in terms of injuries, I never thought at the age of 33 and a half that I will have this trophy in my hands again. So, it’s something really, really emotional for me. A lot of work on the shadows to be where we are today and without all my team and family that is here with me, this thing would be impossible. So I can just say thank you very much everybody for the support.

Have been some bad moments and you have been always there. Honestly, like this year for example, after Monte Carlo [note: Nadal considered momentarily stepping away from competition after the constant injuries broke his confidence], after the support of all these people who are here to my left, things will be much different for me this year. They encouraged me to keep going and I can’t thank them enough. Thank you very much.

Well, to all the fans and all the ATP staff. I’m gonna start with the ATP staff. We have a great tour. All the workers make us feel great every single week all around the world. So many thanks to all the people who work on the ATP and make the players and the fans enjoy a great tour so many thanks everybody in the ATP tour. Thank you.

Last thing, this trophy is an achievement all around for the whole year. So personally today I can’t thank enough to all of you for the support on this personal match and all the time that I have been playing here in London. But at the same time, I have to say, because it’s something that I really feel from the bottom of my heart to all the fans all around the world that give me their support every single week that I am playing, no? It’s very difficult to describe the feeling when you are on court. When you walk on and you feel the support and the love from that many people. So just thank you very much, everybody, from all around.

Of course, all the sponsors, all the people who believe in our sport. Thank you very much. We try to make things the best way possible and I hope all the sponsors are happy with our sport. Thank you very much for supporting our sport.

And, well, guys, I don’t know if I see you tomorrow because it depends on the match in the afternoon! But I did all the things I could today. I fought until the end: Two days ago, today. So, if I am able to play in front of you against Roger, it will be a huge honour. If not, I really hope to see you next year.

READ: ATP Finals: Roger Federer Gets Revenge Over Novak Djokovic For Wimbledon Defeat

READ: Rafael Nadal Defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas To Keep ATP Finals Hopes Alive

Novak Djokovic will finish the year as the World Numer two whereas Roger Federer could finish on the third spot. However, Federer's position is in danger with in-form Dominic Thiem also fighting to win the ATP Finals.

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