No 1 plays down talk of slam as Rafa-mania hits

Rafael Nadal's performance on court this year has proven he is the number one player in the world. The hoopla and hype surrounding him off court merely confirms it.

One day after the man he replaced as world number one, Roger Federer, casually strode unaccompanied to the podium to meet the media at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Nadal's arrival set off scenes of pandemonium and left little doubt Rafa-mania has engulfed Asia.

'The people waiting for me at the hotel in Bangkok, in Tokyo last week, and here too, everything is important,' a smiling Nadal said. 'When you see people supporting you like this, that gives you more power to keep working hard and to try to do it a little bit more.'

As he spoke, normally reserved media members jostled for position and a sea of flashbulbs flickered. Not surprisingly, the coolest person in the room was Nadal. The Spaniard came up one tournament short of winning the elusive grand slam this year when he was forced to withdraw with a quadricep injury in a quarter-final match against Andy Murray at the Australian Open.

Yet despite the victories in the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open that followed, Nadal believes there is no way he can capture the grand slam. 'For me, that is impossible,' he said. 'I will try to keep playing well and try to win four titles next year, but the grand slam is not the case.'

The task at hand in Shanghai this week will not be so easy either and the man given the best chance of knocking off Nadal is the one he disposed of in the US Open finals, world number two Novak Djokovic.

Fresh off a championship at the China Open in Beijing that ended on Monday, Djokovic says he has a lot left in the tank. 'I feel good mentally and physically,' he said. 'I didn't spend that much energy in Beijing. I'm sure I'll be fit and ready.'