Tennis | Nadal’s longevity in the ATP ranking: A unique case in history

Waiting to know what will be the next stop on the calendar of Rafael Nadalwho played alongside Roger Federer in the last doubles match of the Swiss’s career in the Laver Cup before withdrawing from the tournament between Europe and the rest of the world, this week the Spaniard has reached the not inconsiderable figure of 900 consecutive weeks within the fifty best tennis players in the world.

A figure that is only surpassed by the 1.1126 of the Swiss, recently retired, and that highlights the regularity that the Spaniard has shown throughout his career, in which he has won 22 Grand Slams at 36 years old. But it is not the only number that magnifies the trajectory of Nadal within the circuit, with a practically unrepeatable curriculum in the history of tennis.

The most impressive of all is that of the 900, 888 have been within the top-10, an absolute record within the men’s circuit. More than 6,200 days since the April 25, 2005 broke out with force after having conquered, first the title in Monte Carlo, and later raised his first Count of Godó, which finally led him to enter like a true cyclone to revolutionize the world of tennis from the start of his successful career.

for now, Nadal has added nothing more and nothing less than 92 titles and has managed to finish up to five seasons at the top of the ATP ranking (2008, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019). In total there are 209 weeks as number one, 370 as number two and 90 in the third rung of the drawer, which adds up to 669 among the top three.

Consensus will never be reached as to who of the three members of the Big 3 is the best male tennis player in history, however, these data do nothing but support the more than firm candidacy of Nadal to be in the highest of the Olympus of the racket, where for a few years now, it is present with total deserved.