Rafael Nadal has been taking a break from tennis in the last couple of weeks. The 33-year-old won the US Open last month. The victory was the 19th major title of his career. He is now one Grand Slam short of equaling Roger Federer’s tally of 20. The two played for Team Europe in the Laver Cup. Nadal sustained an injury at the tournament which made him withdraw from the Shanghai Masters. The tournament began this week and seemed like a good opportunity for Novak Djokovic to strengthen his grip on the number one position.
Nadal and Djokovic fighting for the world No.1 rank
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The Serbian is trailing Nadal in points this season. He was behind the Spaniard by 1460 points before playing in Shanghai this week. The Serbian lost in the quarterfinals on Friday to Stefanos Tsitsipas. His participation in the Shanghai Masters only yielded 180 points. The 16-time Grand Slam champion now trails the Spaniard by 1280 points for the year. The point’s difference seems insurmountable for Djokovic. The world No.1 leads Nadal by 320 points on the current rankings. He could lose the number one position at the Paris Masters. Since he played at the tournament last year, the 32-year-old could lose up to 600 points to Nadal who did not play at the tournament.
Losing the number one ranking will dent Djokovic’s attempt to equal Federer’s record of most weeks spent at number one. His current stint at number one has seen him move up to third on the list of most weeks spent at the position. The Serbian is behind Pete Sampara’s who spent 286 weeks, and the Swiss’ record of 310 weeks at the top. Federer also played at the Shanghai Masters but lost to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. Nadal has in the past said he does not care much about the number one ranking. The former world number one has said he will try his best to be competitive but would not mind returning to the position.
Nadal’s wedding with fiance Xisca Perello
The Spaniard will get married to his fiancé Xisca Perello on 19th October. The wedding will take place at the La Forteza estate in Mallorca. After the wedding, he will travel to Kazakhstan to play an exhibition match with Djokovic on 24th October. He will then play at the Paris Masters. The current world number two has also qualified for the ATP Finals set for London for 10th -17th November.
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, Nadal played his last match on the 8th of September when he defeated 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. Nadal clinched 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, the Serbian played his last match on the 11th of October when he surrendered to Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6 7-5 6-3 in the quarter in Shanghai.
This year Djokovic has a 48-9 win-loss record. Novak clinched 4 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon and in Tokyo. Djokovic 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 fought against each other, 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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