Federer win adds to Nadal's misery

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal woke up on Monday with a bruised ego to go along with his aching knees after losing his world number one ranking.

That status was snatched away from the 23-year-old Spaniard on Sunday the moment Roger Federer leapt high into the air to celebrate winning his sixth Wimbledon crown.

As Federer grabbed all the headlines for landing a record 15th grand slam title and declared "I don't know if I've had a more happy period in my tennis life," Nadal has undoubtedly endured the worst month of his career.

His four-year French Open reign was ended in the fourth round by eventual finalist Swede Robin Soderling but things went from bad to worse when he did not even manage to defend his Wimbledon crown after his body let him down.

His misfortune cleared the way for Federer to win the Paris-Wimbledon double and after his titanic All England Club win over Andy Roddick, the Swiss was back on top of the tennis summit and he likes the view from the top.

"I'm sad for Rafa that he didn't get a chance to defend Wimbledon... and having a chance to defend his number one but at least I got it by winning Wimbledon which is at least fitting. It's fantastic," Federer, whose record run of 237 consecutive weeks as world number one was snapped by Nadal last August, told a small group of invited reporters on Monday.

Ominously, the Swiss feels he has regained the mental belief to begin another long stint as the world's best player.

"When you lose number one, you never know if you're going to return to it. I always thought it was easier staying number one than getting there," said Federer, who will turn 28 next month.