Rafael Nadal became the fourth player in history to reach 1,000 ATP Tour wins following a three-set victory over compatriot Feliciano Lopez at the Paris Masters on Wednesday night.
The Spanish world No2 was made to work for the win, dropping the opening set in an eventual 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory.
In doing so, he joined an elite group of players with 1,000-plus wins on Tour: Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer and Ivan Lendl.
“One negative thing about 1,000 wins is you are very old because to win 1,000 matches you need to have a very long career but I am super happy,” Nadal said afterwards.
“To arrive at that number I must have done a lot of things well.
"I’m proud of a lot of things but I faced some challenges in my career in terms of injuries.
"It’s a big achievement to be playing at the age of 34.”
It was Nadal’s first match since winning a 12th French Open title, which took him level with Federer on 20 career Grand Slam wins.
And he remains on course for the end-of-season ATP Finals in London later this month.
Nadal next faces Australian Jordan Thompson in the last 16 in the French capital.
