Tennis | Mass court king Rafael Nadal’s ranking falls by more than a hundred places

French the open tennis tournament kicked off on Sunday. The tournament will have a new winner for sure, but a new name could very well lift the trophy in the men’s singles.

of Spain Rafael Nadal crushed the Norwegian Casper Ruudin in last year’s finals with his skills and routine. Ruud was supposed to be a fresh challenger, but his game seemed like he was hunting for an autograph.

A huge change is coming now. Nadal is not playing on the courts of Roland Garros for the first time since 2004. Very few tennis stars have a career even this long.

There’s a lot more going on. In the ATP list published immediately after the tournament, Nadal falls more than a hundred places and even the Finnish Otto Virtanen below.

As last year’s winner, Nadal loses the 2,000-point pot, which drops him to the weaker side of 120th place in the ranking. The last time his ranking was this low was when he was 16 years old and only in the rising phase of his career in March 2003.

of Paris at the start of the tournament, Nadal’s ranking is at number 15. Injuries have plagued Nadal throughout his career. When he first got into the top five, he was there for almost ten years.

As world number one, Nadal has been hurt many times. The first time he jumped on the roof of the tennis world was in August 2008. So far, the last time Nadal was recorded as number one was in November 2019.

Nadal suffered a hip injury at the Australian Open last January, which ended in the second round for him. Since then, Nadal has not played, and he did not manage to rehabilitate in time from his troublesome injury.

Just over a week ago, Nadal said that he would end his career after next year, if he can play before then.

Termination speeches got Serbia Novak Djokovic to consider quitting at least for a while.

“It must be said that he [Nadal] is my biggest opponent. When he announced the final season ahead of him, I felt that a part of me was leaving with him,” Djokovic was quoted as saying by several media outlets.

Statement is hard to interpret as an end, but Nadal’s move to the side at least starts the thought in Djokovic’s mind.

Djokovic is fit, playing in Paris and aiming for the 23rd grand slam win of his career. At his current reading, he shares the top spot in the men’s statistics with Nadal. Both have achieved 22 grand slam titles.

The focus of Djokovic’s championships falls on Australia, Nadal’s on France.

“It’s no secret that one of the biggest reasons to play here and tour the pros is to set records. And make more history in tennis,” Djokovic said on the ATP website.

It is true that Djokovic sees his chances increased with Nadal on the sidelines.

That’s why it was difficult to interpret Djokovic’s comment as humor, where he said that he doesn’t miss Nadal in Paris at all. He presented it with humor, but a strong seed of truth burned behind the statement.

Djokovic laughed as he told the Sunday Times: “I don’t miss Nadal in the Roland Garros chart at all. I don’t miss seeing him here.”

Mild or even milder bitterness is understandable.

Nadal and Djokovic have met ten times at the Paris Mass, and three times in the final. Nadal leads with victories 8–2, although the Serbian leads all matches between them by numbers 30–29.

Since 2005, Nadal and Djokovic have shared the French titles with a disproportionate record of 14–2. As exceptions, only the Swiss can fit in these years Roger Federer’s (2009) and Stan Wawrinka Titles (2015).

Novak Djokovic starts his career in Paris on Monday in the United States Aleksandar Kovacevic (ATP-114) against. Emil Ruusuvuoren the opening match is scheduled for Tuesday.