Rafael Nadal celebrates unique ranking milestone in ‘Club 6000’
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With 858 weeks in the top-10, Rafael Nadal stands second behind Roger Federer, who is 110 weeks ahead of him at the top. When we talk about consecutive weeks in the elite group, Nadal has no match, never leaving the top-10 after he entered it in 2005 and setting the record that will hardly get broken in the future.
The 21-time Major champion celebrated another massive ranking record on Monday, becoming the only player with 6000 straight days in the top-10! The record came just a day following Nadal’s 91st ATP title in Acapulco, and the Spaniard should spend plenty more time in the elite if he keeps his current form and remains injury-free.
The 16-year-old Nadal was ranked just outside the top-200 at the beginning of 2003, playing high-level tennis that year and continuing the meteoric progress through the ATP ranking list.
Rafael Nadal celebrated 6000 consecutive days in the top-10!
After 19 Challenger triumphs (title in Barletta and three more finals) and the third-round appearance in Monte Carlo, Rafa cracked the top-100 in April and stayed on a steady course in the following months to secure a top-50 spot in August.
Despite a nasty injury that halted his rise in the spring of 2004, Nadal won the first ATP title in Sopot in August and helped Spain win the Davis Cup title, gathering momentum ahead of 2005. That proved to be Nadal’s first great season on the Tour, competing in the fourth round of the Australian Open before conquering Costa do Sauipe and Acapulco on beloved clay.
The best was yet to come for an extraordinary teenager, who stood two points away from winning the Miami crown against Roger Federer. Rafa lost that one in five sets before lifting the first Masters 1000 trophy in Monte Carlo a few weeks later.
Hungry for more, Rafa headed to Barcelona with no rest and defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the best-of-five final to grab another title and additional 300 points that propelled him into the top-10 for the first time. At 18…
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Source : tennisworldusa
