Tennis news: Rafael Nadal clinches season-end number one ranking
The Spaniard tennis ace, Rafael Nadal will end the year 2010 as number one player in the world by the Association of tennis professionals for the second time in three years.
The 24-year-old Nadal is the ninth man in the entire history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings since 1973 to end as ATP World Tour winner at least twice. The Spaniard along with his arch rival Roger Federer are the only two players on the tour since
2000 to clinch the season-end number one ranking in the week after the year’s final major, the United States Open tennis tournament in New York. The Swiss tennis maestro, Roger Federer has so far managed to do it on two occasions in his career back in 2004
as well as in 2006.
The Manacor resident said, "It has been an amazing year for me which is definitely one of my best-ever if not the very best. Capturing the United States open title, French Open, the grass court Grand Slam along with three back-to-back ATP World Tour Masters
title in Europe was off course not easy for me. I have worked extremely hard ever since the start of the season to get back on the top world rankings, and it feels really great to know that I will end the season as number one in the world. All I can say at
the moment is that I will continue to entertain my fans in the next season as well, and will try to win as many matches as I possibly can.”
The left-handed Rafa will be officially crowned as the 2010 ATP World Tour winner during a ceremony at the year ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals competition, which is going to be held in London from November 21 to November 28 2010.
The Spaniard and Roger Federer are the first two contenders who have managed to qualify for the eight-man field. Rafa is the third left-hander to end the year as world number one at least twice, joining the former top-ranked American Jimmy Connors, who did
it five times from 1974 to 1978, and John McEnroe who finished the year as a top-ranked tennis player on four occasions, 1981-84.
Rafa, on Monday registered his name as the seventh player in the history to complete his career Grand Slam, as he captured his first United States Open trophy in New York. The Spaniard is also the first man to grab three straight major titles in a single
season since Rod Laver won all four of them back in 1969. The 24-year-old Rafael is also the youngest contender in the Open era to accomplish a career Grand Slam. It was Manacor-born ninth career major title, and he is the second youngest man behind Bjorn
Borg to win a total of nine Grand Slam tournaments.
Rafael, as a result of this victory has also joined Roger Federer and Lendl, as the only players to have held, lost and recaptured the season- end number one ranking in 37-year history of the ATP rankings. Ivan held the season-end number one ranking from
1985 to 1987 and ended number two back in 1988 before regaining the top spot in 1989. Roger was number one in the world from 2004 to 2007, then dropped to number two back in 2008, however, returned to the top-spot back in 2009.
The Spaniard at the moment leads the ATP World Tour with a total of six trophies and a match record of 59-7 this season. Since April, Nadal has triumphed in forty three of forty six clashes, winning six of nine championships, including a total of three ATP
World Tour Masters 1000 clay court tournaments in a row.
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