Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are battling to end the year at the top of the rankings. This objective has a huge meaning for the Serb that aims at dethroning Federer as the man that has spent the most weeks at the top of the rankings (310 weeks).
Year to Date Rankings
Before Paris, Nadal was leading Djokovic of 1280 points in the Year to Date rankings. The King of Clay had the opportunity to end this race for the world no.1 by winning the title in France and he looked to be in great form to achieve that. However, things went dramatically sideways for the Spaniard as he had to withdraw from the competition before his semifinal against Shapovalov after getting injured to his abdominal during the warm-up.
Live Rankings and the ATP Finals
With Djokovic reaching the final in Paris, the Serb has a deficit of 1,040 pts vs. Nadal in the live rankings. Nole can shrink this deficit to 640 points if he wins the title in France.
The ATP Finals award 200 points for every win in the 3 round-robin matches, 400 points for winning the semifinal and a total 1500 for the undefeated champion.
Doing some calculations starting with the premises that Djokovic wins Paris, Nole needs to find a way to bridge a 640pts gap. If Djokovic wins the ATP Finals as the undefeated champion, Nadal’s “only” option to remain no.1 by the end of the year is to reach the final in London without losing a single match in the Round Robin. Nadal will raise a bit the bar for Djokovic if he wins 2 matches in the round robin to get 400 points. In this case, the only option for Djokovic is to win London without dropping a single match in the Round Robin.
Will injured Nadal play the Finals?
Rafa decided to withdraw from Paris because of an abdominal injury. However, if this injury is not serious, it is plausible that the King of Clay will try to compete in London, aiming to win at least 2 matches.
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 2nd of November when he conceded a walkover to Denis Shapovalov in the semifinal in Paris.
This year Nadal has a 50-6 win-loss record. The Spaniard has won 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Nadal was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Djokovic in Paris, ranking, and results in 2019
Now ranked no.1, Djokovic has a 52-9 win-loss record in 2019. Djokovic is now competing in Paris where he ousted Corentin Moutet 7-62 6-4, Kyle Edmund 7-67 6-1, Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1 6-2 and Grigor Dimitrov 7-65 6-4.
The Serbian will come up against Shapovalov in the final. The head to head is 3-0 for Djokovic.
The last time that they squared off, Djokovic won 6-3 6-3 in the 2nd round in Shanghai on the 09th October 2019.
Novak has won 4 titles in 2019 at the Australian Open, in Madrid, in Wimbledon and in Tokyo. The Serbian was the finalist in Rome.
The Serbian won 76 titles in his career: 44 on hard courts, 14 on clay courts, 12 on indoor courts and 6 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
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 on the 19th May 2019.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic |
| Embed from Getty Images |
