A month ago, Rafael Nadal celebrated 16 consecutive years in the top 10 and achieved the feat that will take some time in the future. The 20-time major champion enjoys his 817.
Week in the elite and takes second place on the list after leaving Jimmy Connors at 816 and only lagging behind Roger Federer. Yesterday, Rafa won the 36th Masters 1000 crown in Rome, increased his record by 1000 points and won the second title of the season, which solidifies his top 10 status and protects him for many more weeks and months.
An 18-year-old Nadal cracked the top 10 in April 2005. Sixteen years later, the 20-time major champion is still one of the leading players in the world and in January celebrates the 800th consecutive top 10 week as the first player to achieve this!
16-year-old Nadal started the 2003 season and was just outside the top 200. He played tennis at a high level to overtake rival after rival on the ATP rankings. Despite a serious injury that halted his progress in the spring of 2004, Nadal won the first ATP title in Sopot in August and helped Spain secure the Davis Cup title at the end of the season.
This was Nadal’s first great season, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open before conquering Costa do Sauipe and Acapulco on beloved sands.
Nadal is the second player with 817 weeks in the top 10 and overtakes Connors
The best came for an extraordinary teenager who was two points away from winning the Miami crown against Roger Federer and winning the first Masters 1000 trophy in Monte Carlo a few weeks later to write history books.
Hungry for more, Rafa went to Barcelona without a break and beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the best of 5 final to secure another title and an additional 300 points that put him in the top 10 for the first time!
At 18 years and ten months, Rafa became the eighth youngest top 10 player since the beginning of the ATP rankings in 1973, along with Aaron Krickstein, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Björn Borg, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi and Andrei Medvedev.
Nadal has never left the exclusive group and counted one enormous or at least reliable season after another to collect over 800 top 10 weeks in a unique milestone. In his darkest seasons in 2015 and 2016, Rafa struggled with injuries and stayed away from the major titles.
He fought the rivals from above and barely stayed in the top 10. Rafa returned at his best in 2017 and has been in the top 3 since then. He reached 20 major crowns with Federer last October and was looking for more records in 2021.
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