NEWS MONDAY

(CNN) -- Rafael Nadal insists he is more motivated by winning titles than retaining the No. 1 ranking as the tennis season makes its quick switch from clay to grass this week.

The Spaniard has swapped Paris for London after clinching a record-equaling sixth French Open title on Sunday as he begins preparations to defend his Wimbledon crown.

The 24-year-old would have lost his top ranking if Roger Federer had not ended Novak Djokovic's 41-match unbeaten run this season in the semifinals at Roland Garros.

"I think he will have a big chance to be number one at Wimbledon," Nadal told CNN's Kate Giles of his Serbian rival. "I think he deserves to be number one because what he did was fantastic at the beginning of the season.

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"I'm very happy with what I did too. For me the most important thing is not the No. 1, the important thing is I have another title, another Roland Garros.

"And for me the most important thing is to be competitive every time when I go on court. I've been number one two times, I was happy for that but more important for me is the titles than that number one."

Having matched the legendary Bjorn Borg in winning six French Open titles, Nadal is now looking to extend his tally of 10 grand slam crowns with a third triumph at Wimbledon on a surface he has grown to love as his career has developed.

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His only warm-up event before Wimbledon starts on June 20 is this week's AEGON Championships at Queen's Club, which also features the man he beat in the Paris semis, Andy Murray.

However, Djokovic has pulled out due to knee problems, while Federer has withdrawn from the German event in Halle to rest his groin injury.

The Swiss star, a record 16-time grand slam champion, had been hoping to win one of his favorite events for the sixth time before trying to match Pete Sampras' mark of seven Wimbledon titles.

"The grass is always a special feeling and it's good fun to play on grass," Nadal said.

"I like the surface, I love to play there. You can do different things -- you can attack, you can go to the net -- so it's fun to try to adapt my game as fast as possible to the grass because I only have two weeks."

Nadal equals Borg with record sixth French Open title

Nadal had a disappointing start to this season when he suffered a hamstring injury during his quarterfinal defeat at the Australian Open, ending his bid to hold all four grand slam titles.

His dominance was further threatened when Djokovic beat him in four successive Masters Series finals, including two on his beloved clay in Madrid and Rome.

"The beginning of the season wasn't easy because I had an injury in Australia and I got sick in Doha, but after that I was healthy and I was able to play very well the rest of the season," Nadal said.

"Today was the seventh straight final of the year after coming back from the injury in Australia, so that's fantastic for me and I'm unbelievably happy with everything. To win another Roland Garros against Roger was really special, very emotional."
COMMENT nadal won the rolan garros tournament in france against roger federer keeping him in the first place leaving diocovich and federer below his prestige level so i think is realy good that nadal stills in first place.