Rafael Nadal has dropped three places to number seven in the latest ATP rankings released on Monday a day after his defeat in the Madrid Open final to Andy Murray.
It is Rafa’s lowest ranking in ten years as Novak Djokovic, who did not compete in Spain, continues to dominate.
Rafa: “Nothing changes going from five to seven. I need a result in Rome to not drop below the top eight which could really affect Roland Garros. If you are not in the top eight you can get a top player in a really early round.”
Top 10 in the current ATP Rankings:
| Rank, Name & Nationality | Points | Week Change | Tourn Played |
| 1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) | 13,845 | 0 | 18 |
| 2 Federer, Roger (SUI) | 8,645 | 0 | 19 |
| 3 Murray, Andy (GBR) | 7,130 | 0 | 22 |
| 4 Raonic, Milos (CAN) | 5,160 | 2 | 23 |
| 5 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) | 5,140 | 2 | 23 |
| 6 Nishikori, Kei (JPN) | 5,040 | -1 | 22 |
| 7 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) | 4,990 | -3 | 20 |
| 8 Ferrer, David (ESP) | 4,310 | 0 | 24 |
| 9 Wawrinka, Stan (SUI) | 3,575 | 0 | 21 |
| 10 Cilic, Marin (CRO) | 3,360 | 0 | 20 |
Source: AFP, ATP World Tour
Wow, I always thought they deduct by increments between winning last year and
ending up as a finalist this year. I never knew they deduct the whole 1000 points if you
don’t defend the title! The system doesn’t seem fair. Wow, Novak will have a ton of
points to defend next year. Good luck!
For me, the top 4 will always be the usual suspects: Rafa, Roger, Nole, and Andy no
matter what the ranking dictates. Besides it does fluctuate after each tournament, anyway!
Kei and Milos are both talented and hard-working but they still have a lot to prove
and win especially a Grand Slam.
Rafa at #7 is always #1 in my book! I never worry about Rafa, he’s the ultimate warrior!
Warriors always do battle whether they are up or down! Rafa is just being tested on
the clay like never before. As always, he’ll weather the storm! Of course the others
want a piece of the action. Rafa has kept them at bay for more than a decade.
Now that’s just amazing in itself! That’s why I never, ever underestimate Rafa!
And I also agree with Elizabeth, he is the most gracious of champions!
I agree with Miri and too am totally befuddled by Rafa’s play vs Murray. Inexplicable when he was on a roll from the previous day and throttled Berdych. Even more bizarre was his lackadaisacal response to losing–not a big deal in his mind that he had an off day. That means to me that he has lost some of his competitive fire, not good going into RG. He cannot be satisfied with this level of play at the big finals–it seems to be like he has trouble closing. Meaning, he can get to the finals now but can’t finish to win. My biggest hope is that since he’s definitely a slow starter these days, the difference will be 3 out of 5 sets.
Fingers crossed!!!!
Louie, thanks for the explanation. I didn’t understand how it worked and I thought since he was a finalist he would get 500 points and Andy would get 1000. I still have a lot to learn about how the system works obviously. I had no idea that players could lose points. Is there a link that explains the whole system?
j
its time the point system was made more fair, he has so much to give you all. but all you do is take away I should think he really wonderes if its worth the effort the whole systema stinks
,
Always behind you<3
Let is focus on the positives please. Rome is built on 7 hills so this may be a good omen for Rafael. All support for the most gracious of champions, class shines through win or lose.
What i mean is that he was the defending champ in the US Open in 2013 but he failed to defend it last year. He din’t play, remember? That was why he was deducted 2000 points from his total points, and so on and so forth.
If he reached the final beating all those who lost in this one, and he was ahead of them, how did he sink to 7th? I don’t get it.
Let me try to explain a bit. If you are the defending champion and you win it again, no additional points for you. If you loose it, then the points equivalent to that tournament will be deducted from you in full. In this case, Rafa was the defending champion in Madrid, That is worth 1000. If he won again, no deduction, since he lost to Andy, 1000 was deducted from his total points. This is why he went down in the rankings, Last year he was the champ in the US Open, that’s 2000 points. He didn’t defend it this year, so 2000 points was deductd from his total points. I hope this helps