Federer is still a formidable force, says Nadal
Spaniard says the Swiss ace has nothing to prove and does not need to be world number one any more
Been there, done that. Roger Federer does not need to be world number one any more and he might well be a top contender at next year's Australian Open, says his chief rival Rafael Nadal.
Federer's decline has been well documented since 2011, the year he failed to win a grand slam for the first time since 2003. He suffered yet another below par performance this season, at best reaching the last four at the Australian Open - the first time he has not made it to a major tennis final since 2002.
The Swiss, however, has a record 17 grand slam titles to his name and has spent 302 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings.
He does remain a formidable opponent, according to current world number one Nadal.
"I don't have any doubt that he will be playing better than what he did this year," Nadal said at the Paris Masters. "No doubt about that. His talent allows him to keep being one of the favourites, to keep winning the best tournaments of the year.
"So talking about if he's able to be back or try to be back in the No 1 [spot], I think it's not his goal, because at the end he already has been there. He has been in the top positions of the ranking for a long time."