Paris, November 5: The Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal on Wednesday became only the fourth player to earn 1,000 Open Era singles victories.

Nadal achieved the milestone after securing a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Feliciano Lopez in the ongoing Paris Masters. With this win, he joined Jimmy Connors (1,274), Roger Federer (1,242) and Ivan Lendl (1,068) in the 1,000-win club. Also Read | Virat Kohli Birthday Wishes: Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha, VVS Laxman and Others Wish the RCB and Team India Captain As He Turns 32!.

The 34-year-old expressed elation over touching the "special number" and said winning that many games mean "I am old". "That means that I am old. That means that I played well for such a very long time, because to achieve that number is because I have been playing well for a lot of years and is something that makes me feel happy, no? I just can say thank you very much to all the people that helped me and all the people that in any moment of my life helped me to be where I am, no?" Paris Masters' official website quoted Nadal as saying. Also Read | Virat Kohli Birthday Special: 7 Dapper Outings of the Indian Skipper that ‘Bowled’ Us Over (View Pics).

"It has been a special moment. I know is a very special number, 1000. Even if it's not the same to celebrate something like this without a crowd, I enjoy it with ATP, with the president of the French Federation, with Guy Forget, supervisor and the ball boys," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)