Rafa Nadal’s incredible run of being in the top 13 in the world has come to an end as he plummeted to the…
Despite having the top seed, the Spaniard hurt his hip flexor at Melbourne Park. The 36-year-old, who left Australia to participate at Indian Wells, declared he would be recovering for six to eight weeks.
Regretfully, Nadal had to withdraw from both the Indian Wells Open and the Dubai Tennis Championship in order to focus on his preferred surface. After reaching the Indian Wells final the previous year, Rafael Nadal was unable to retain his 600-point lead and the Australian Open title. And Nadal ended an amazing steak by not being able to participate in these championships. For the first time in eighteen years, Rafael Nadal was formally removed from the Top 10 rankings on Monday. The 22-time grand slam champion has never finished outside of the Top 10 rankings since breaking through in 2005, the year he won the Barcelona Open at the age of 18.
When he surpassed tennis legend Jimmy Connor’s previous record of 789 weeks in the Top 10, Rafael Nadal created a new record for men in 2020. Nadal has spent 912 weeks straight in the top ten. The only person who ranks higher than him is Martina Navratilova, who dominated the women’s game for an astounding 1,000 weeks. Considering that he has sustained foot and wrist ailments from playing at such a fast pace over the years, Nadal’s consistency is still astounding. There isn’t a single player in the Top 20 from 2005 who is now engaged in professional tennis.
