Nadal Shatters Top 10 Ranking Consistency World Record

Nirmal Sawlani
Nadal Shatters Top 10 Ranking Consistency World Record

Nadal Shatters Top 10 Ranking Consistency World Record

Just a few weeks ahead of the Australian Open 2021, Rafael Nadal has quietly shattered yet another world record that may never even come close to being touched by any of his peers. One of the most consistent players on the circuit, Rafa has dodged injuries and really tough competition to achieve yet another milestone in his tennis career – 800 consecutive weeks (5600 days) within the ATP’s Top 10 rankings. While he may be trailing behind Novak Djokovic in terms of Masters 1000 wins, Rafa has levelled Roger Federer’s – once seemingly impossible – record of twenty Grand Slams & unlike Federer, seems to be en-route to win a few more.

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With the ATP rankings update on Monday, 18 January, Spanish tennis icon Rafael Nadal completed a staggering 800 consecutive weeks (15.3years) ranked within the Top 10 ATP players. If the figure does not shake you up at once, 800 weeks amounts to roughly 15.3 years – almost 50% of Rafa’s entire life. An additionally in context, this means that since Rafa made his professional ATP debut all the way back in 2001, he has only spent first 4 years not being a top 10 player. Rafa barged into the Top 10 on April 25, 2005, shortly after he won his first title at the French Open and the rest is history.

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One of the greatest contributors to Rafa’s longevity at the top rankings of tennis has been his total domination on Clay. Boasting an insane thirteen titles at the Roland Garros, Rafa has earned at least 2k points from the Slam every year, helping him stay afloat even as he went down in non grand slams like the Masters 1000. While he may not have won as many of the non clay court Slams, it has been rare to see Rafa non reaching the quarterfinals/semis even in those – another indicator of his consistency over all surfaces and time.

On his way to 800 consecutive weeks, Nadal surpassed Jimmy Connors’ record of 789 in November last year. He also crossed arch rival Roger Federer, who finished 734 consecutive weeks in 2016 after an unfortunate knee injury pushed him down to No. 17. Novak Djokovic on the other hand, ended a 10 year-long run from 2007-17 after suffering an elbow injury that pushed him down to a low of No. 22 in 2018. The next milestone Rafa could be looking at is the overall weeks in the Top 10 – a category topped by Federer at 931 weeks and Jimmy Connors, whose 816 weeks Nadal can easily cross in 16 weeks!

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Source: RepublicWorld

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