Rafael Nadal and his top 10 series: this week it's 16 years!
It is one of the most impressive series in world tennis: The time when Rafael Nadal is continuously in the top 10 of the ATP world rankings. It's been 16 years since this week!
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: May 01, 2021, 08:39 pm
It was only in November 2020 that we reported that Rafael Nadal is now the front runner in terms of "uninterruptedly in the top 10": At that time, the Spaniard had started his 790th week among the top ten players and thus the previous all-time record set by Jimmy Connors (789 weeks ) outbid.
And Nadal seems to want to expand it further: In the meantime it has made it into the top 10 for the 16th (!) Year in a row.
Rafa cracked the top 10 for the first time on April 25, 2005. To put it into perspective: the first smartphone was still two years away ...
At one point, Nadal's first tournament win in Barcelona put him in seventh place, past Andre Agassi, Carlos Moya and David Nalbandian. At the top: Roger Federer in front of Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. Incidentally, Nadal's victory in Barcelona last Sunday was his twelfth on site ...
Nadal and the top ten: it was close twice
Nadal spent most of the time in the top ten in first or second place, only in 2015 he was on the verge of "off" in the top ten, the result of his wrist and appendix problems the year before. In 2016 it was again tight with 9th place, here too the wrist had previously caused problems and Nadal ended his season prematurely.
Oh yes, and what about Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic? Federer is "only" in the top ten with 734 weeks of permanent presence after he was out for six months after the Wimbledon tournament in 2016 due to knee and back problems and slipped to 17th place. And Djokovic, after his shoulder / arm problems and another premature end of the season in 2017, fell to 22nd place in the following year 2018 (and managed the feat of being back to 1st place at the end of the year ).
Oh yes: Nadal is still a little short of the complete "all-time" record. Martina Navratilova actually managed to be in the top ten for 1000 consecutive weeks!