Rafael Nadal took a few minutes away from training (and winning) in Beijing to hang out with the China Open ball kids. Understandably, it was a dream come true for the young hard workers.

Nadal has had his own work cut out for him this week. He had to save two match points in his opening round over Lucas Pouille.

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He even lost a shoe along the way.

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It won't be easy for the Spaniard to hold onto the No. 1 spot for the rest of the year, but given he pulled the plug on his 2016 season after Beijing, he only has points to gain moving forward.

The ATP also just revealed an impressive stat behind Nadal's resurgence to the top.

Nadal leads the tour in first-serve return points won with 35.2 percent. Most Top 100 players range between 26 and 30 percent, while Nadal's already high stat jumps to 43.4 percent on clay.

He faces Karen Khachanov next in Beijing.