Roger Federer thrilled fans riding the rails alongside commuters on the Shanghai Metro.
The second-ranked Swiss concedes surpassing a streaking Rafael Nadal fthe world No. 1 ranking is "highly unlikely" unless Rafa goes off the rails in the final month of the season.
More: Federer, Nadal Reunite Team
"Because he’s playing so well, it’s going to make things more difficult, but after he won the US Open, clearly (regaining No. 1) was not the goal," Federer told the media in Shanghai. "The goal was always to stay healthy and stay in the chase possibly, you know, but I know that if I want to finish world No. 1 I’ve got to win here and World Tour Finals and Paris and Basel, whatever it may be.
"It becomes more and more unlikely, which is totally fine, because I never entered this season with the goal being world No. 1. It was really unfortunate for me that I hurt myself in Montreal, because then that would have been a cool race maybe going on in Cincinnati, even if I would have lost, and then into the US Open feeling better. Unfortunately it never happened."
Nadal snapped a three-year, hard-court title drought defeating Kevin Anderson to win his third US Open title and 16th Grand Slam championship.
The world No. 1 stretched his winning streak to 12 matches demolishing Nick Kyrgios in the Beijing final on Sunday.
That victory widened Nadal's lead over the second-ranked Swiss to 2,370 points in the rankings.
"So I was kind of close, but not really because I was hurt," Federer said. "It’s all good, you know. I’m just going to plan well, just going to try to have a strong finish to the season and see what happens, but clearly I’m aware it’s highly unlikely at this point."
Photo credit Shanghai Rolex Masters