A month ago, Rafael Nadal celebrated his 16 consecutive years in the top 10, achieving a feat that will not be easy in the future. The 20-time Grand Slam champion is enjoying his 817th week in the top flight, earning second place on the list after leaving Jimmy Connors on 816, behind only Roger Federer.
Yesterday Rafa won the 36th Masters 1000 in Rome, adding 1,000 points to his account and winning the second title of the season, which allows him to consolidate his top 10 status and stay safe for many weeks and many months.
At 18, Nadal made his way into the top 10 in April 2005. Sixteen years later, the Balearic is still among the best players in the world, celebrating in January the 800th consecutive week in the top 10, thus becoming the first player. to achieve it!
At 16, Nadal started the 2003 season placing just outside the top 200, playing top tennis to overtake one rival after another in the ATP ranking list. Despite a nasty injury that put an end to his progress in the spring of 2004, Nadal won the first ATP title at Sopot in August and helped Spain win the Davis Cup title at the end of the season, which allowed him to gain momentum for 2005.
This proved to be Nadal’s first big season, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open before conquering Costa do Sauipe and Acapulco on the beloved clay.
Rafael Nadal with 817 weeks in the top 10, overtakes Jimmy Connors.
The best was yet to come for an extraordinary teenager, two points behind winning the Miami crown against Roger Federer and lifting the first Masters 1000 trophy in Monte Carlo a few weeks later to make history.
Eager to do battle, Rafa traveled to Barcelona and beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the best of five sets to clinch a new title and 300 more points that propelled him into the top 10 for the first time!
At 18 years and ten months old, Rafa became the eighth youngest Top 10 player since the ATP rankings began in 1973, joining Aaron Krickstein, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi and Andrei Medvedev.
Nadal has never left the exclusive squad, counting one formidable or at least reliable season after another to muster over 800 weeks in the top 10, a unique milestone. In his darkest seasons, in 2015 and 2016, Rafa had to contend with injuries and steered clear of major titles, battling top rivals and barely staying in the top. 10.
Returning to his best in 2017, Rafa has moved into the top-3 since, joining Federer on 20 major crowns last October and looking to set more records in 2021.
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