Rafael Nadal secures year end No. 1
It’s not even a week since Rafael Nadal has been crowned the 2010 US Open champion but the Spaniard has already done enough to secure the season ending world No. 1 ranking.
It’s the second time in three years Nadal will end the year as the world’s top ranked player, after his great rival Roger Federer finished in the No. 1 spot last year.
"It has been an incredible season - one of my best ever, if not the best,” Nadal said. “Winning the US Open together with Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as the three back-to-back [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000s in Europe, was not easy. I worked very hard to get back to the top and it feels really good to know I will end the year as No.1."
In addition to winning those three major titles, and completing his career Grand Slam at the US Open, Nadal this year became the most prolific ATP Masters 1000 title-winner, breaking Andre Agassi’s previous mark of 17 when he won the 18th Masters 1000 title of his career in Madrid, defeating Federer in the final.
In doing so, the left-hander also became the first player to win all three clay court Masters 1000 tournaments in the same season.
Nadal took the No. 1 ranking back from Federer following his French Open victory in June, stranding the Swiss just one week shy of Pete Sampras’ record of spending 286 weeks as the world No. 1 across his career.
The nine-time Grand Slam champion ended Federer’s record 237 weeks as the world No. 1 when he first ascended to the top of the rankings on August 18th 2008, soon after claiming his maiden Wimbledon crown.
Then, Nadal spent 46 weeks as the world’s top ranked player before Federer again took back top spot on July 6th 2009 after breaking Sampras’ Grand Slam title record when he won the 15th major of his career after defeating Andy Roddick in an epic 77-game Wimbledon final.
The 24-year-old Nadal is now one of just three players, with Federer and Ivan Lendl the others, to hold, lose and then regain the season ending No. 1 ranking since the rankings were introduced in 1973.
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