Rafael Nadal lament bitterly as he slips out of the world’s top ten for the …
Rafael Nadal might have woken up this morning feeling ever so slightly different – for the first time in nearly 18 years he is not a member of the world’s top ten.
The 36 year-old Spaniard has slipped down to number thirteen on the ATP rankings, and not since April 24 2005 has he not held what is such a highly regarded status in tennis.
Rafael Nadal lament bitterly as he slips out of the world’s top ten for the …
This marks the end of a quietly astonishing period of consistency in a global individual sport. It is all the more remarkable for the fact that he can hardly claim to have had the sort of injury-free record as baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr., who once played 2,632 games without interruption.
When Nadal first broke into the top ten Sir Tony Blair still had two years left as Prime Minister and Sir Alex Ferguson eight ahead of him as Manchester United manager. The England cricket team was only just embarking on the summer which would see them play perhaps the greatest Ashes series of all against Australia.
On the twelve month system of roll-on, roll-off points, it helps when you have won Roland Garros fourteen times.
READ MORE:Rafael Nadal aims to make comeback from hip injury at …..
Nadal’s fall partly owes itself to him losing the 600 he earned a year ago for making the final of Indian Wells. In his absence it was won late on Sunday night by Carlos Alcaraz, defeating Daniil Medvedev.
And were it not for points being stripped from Wimbledon – where he made the semi-finals last year – he would still have a prized top ten slot.
That in turn pushed Nadal’s heir apparent back to world number one, usurping Novak Djokovic, who is absent from the current swing of tournaments due to the continuing United States ban on those who are unvaccinated against Covid.
Rafael Nadal lament bitterly as he slips out of the world’s top ten for the …
Rafael Nadal might have woken up this morning feeling ever so slightly different – for the first time in nearly 18 years he is not a member of the world’s top ten.
The 36 year-old Spaniard has slipped down to number thirteen on the ATP rankings, and not since April 24 2005 has he not held what is such a highly regarded status in tennis.
Rafael Nadal lament bitterly as he slips out of the world’s top ten for the …
This marks the end of a quietly astonishing period of consistency in a global individual sport. It is all the more remarkable for the fact that he can hardly claim to have had the sort of injury-free record as baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr., who once played 2,632 games without interruption.
When Nadal first broke into the top ten Sir Tony Blair still had two years left as Prime Minister and Sir Alex Ferguson eight ahead of him as Manchester United manager. The England cricket team was only just embarking on the summer which would see them play perhaps the greatest Ashes series of all against Australia.
On the twelve month system of roll-on, roll-off points, it helps when you have won Roland Garros fourteen times.
READ MORE:Rafael Nadal aims to make comeback from hip injury at …..
Nadal’s fall partly owes itself to him losing the 600 he earned a year ago for making the final of Indian Wells. In his absence it was won late on Sunday night by Carlos Alcaraz, defeating Daniil Medvedev.
And were it not for points being stripped from Wimbledon – where he made the semi-finals last year – he would still have a prized top ten slot.
That in turn pushed Nadal’s heir apparent back to world number one, usurping Novak Djokovic, who is absent from the current swing of tournaments due to the continuing United States ban on those who are unvaccinated against Covid.
