Rafael Nadal secures ultimate ranking record ahead of Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer

Within a couple of days, the 20-time Major champion Rafael Nadal earned two notable accomplishments, adding them to his already impressive list of achievements. Last week, Rafa became the fourth player in the Open era with 1000 ATP victories following the second-round win over Feliciano Lopez in Paris. Seeking the first Paris Masters title, Nadal lost in the semi-final to Alexander Zverev in three sets, failing to add new points to his tally but staying world no. 2 behind Novak Djokovic. On Monday, Nadal has added another record to incredible CV, becoming the player with most consecutive weeks in the top-10, celebrating the 790th straight week in the elite and leaving Jimmy Connors on 789! Both Connors and Nadal have been ranked in the elite group for over 15 years without leaving it, and Rafa should send the record to an untouchable area if he avoids injuries and stays there for a couple of more years.

The 16-year-old Nadal was ranked just outside the top-200 at the beginning of 2003, playing high-level tennis to continue the meteoric progress through the ATP ranking list. After 19 Challenger triumphs (title in Barletta and three more finals) and the third-round appearance in Monte Carlo, Rafa cracked the top-100 in April and stayed on a steady course in the following months, securing the top-50 spot in August. Despite a nasty injury that halted his rise in the spring of 2004, Nadal won the first ATP title in Sopot in August and helped Spain win the Davis Cup title, gathering momentum ahead of 2005.

Rafael Nadal became the player with most consecutive weeks in the top-10.

That proved to be Nadal's first great season, competing in the fourth round of the Australian Open before conquering Costa do Sauipe and Acapulco on beloved clay. The best was yet to come for an extraordinary teenager, standing two points away from winning the Miami crown against Roger Federer and lifting the first Masters 1000 trophy in Monte Carlo a few weeks later.

Hungry for more, Rafa headed to Barcelona with no rest and defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the best-of-five final to grab another title and additional 300 points that propelled him into the top-10 for the first time in a career. At 18 years and ten months, Rafa became the eighth-youngest player in the mentioned group since the beginning of the ATP ranking in 1973 after Aaron Krickstein, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi and Andrei Medvedev. Embracing the top-10 honor on April 25, 2005, Nadal has never left the group, counting one great or reliable season after another to pass Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Roger Federer, finally moving in front the leader of the pack Jimmy Connors today. Had the coronavirus not stopped the ATP ranking between March and August, the record would have come earlier. However, it allowed Nadal to keep 2000 points from the US Open and 1000 from Rome he won a year ago, standing firm among the world's best players and looking good to remain there for many more years.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2InTenO