Novak Djokovic was pretty straightforward after he won his incredible Wimbledon final against Roger Federer. He declared that he wanted to break Roger’s record as the man that stayed the most at the top of the rankings.
Things looked great for the Serbian sensation as he needed to stay “only” for another 1 year at the top of the rankings. Having 2 slams (the Australian Open and Wimbledon) in his pocket seemed to be a great asset for him to achieve his goal. Unfortunately, Nole suffered from a nasty injury to his left shoulder, and the result was a disastrous American summer with the world no.1 reaching only the semifinal in Cincinnati and the 4th round at the US Open.
However, Novak is well-known to find his way in the most improbable situation. When many thought he might need surgery to fix his shoulder, Djokovic went back to competitions in styles to win Tokyo and look ominous in Shanghai.
Nevertheless, as Roger Federer has recently stated, the Nextgen is finally catching up, and the world no.1 was upset in the quarters in Shanghai.
LIVE RANKINGS. Is Nadal too far for Djokovic?
Novak was facing a 1460 points deficit in the year to date rankings against Rafael Nadal before Shanghai. Ending the year as the world no.1 would be essential for Djokovic to break Federer’s record as he would be sure to stay 10 more weeks at the top counting the offseason and the end of the Australian Open. After winning only 180 points in Shanghai, Nole is 1280 points behind Rafa in the YTD live rankings. That seems to be too much for Djokovic that is scheduled to play only the ATP1000 in Bercy and the ATP Finals in London.
Nole will lose the world no.1 in the live rankings as soon as Bercy starts. The Serbian is currently leading Nadal of 320pts in the rankings, and he will “lose” 600 points as soon as the last ATP1000 of the season starts in Paris. Nadal didn’t play in Bercy last year.
All looks “ominous” for Novak in terms of ending the season at the top of the rankings. However, he has more lives of a cat and you can never count him out.
It’s game on!
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 8th of September when he beat Daniil Medvedev 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4 in the final in U.S. Open to win his 84th career title.
This year the Spaniard has a 47-6 win-loss record. Rafael conquered 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. The Spaniard was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
Now the world no.1, Djokovic played his last match on the 11th of October when he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6 7-5 6-3 in the quarter in Shanghai.
This year the Serbian has a 48-9 win-loss record. Novak conquered 4 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon and in Tokyo. The Serbian was the finalist in Rome.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic played each other 54 times. The head to head is 28-26 for Djokovic.
The last time that they locked horns, Rafael Nadal won 6-0 4-6 6-1 in the final in Rome in 19th May 2019.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic |
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