Rafael Nadal has dropped out of the world’s top 10 men’s tennis rankings for the first time in almost 18 years.
Nadal has been in the top 10 ever since April 2005, but on Monday fell to 13th in the ATP rankings after injury forced him to miss Indian Wells.
The 36-year-old’s run came to an end on the same day that teenage compatriot Carlos Alcaraz reclaimed his No.1 spot from Novak Djokovic after beating Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s Indian Wells final.
Nadal is yet to recover from the hip injury that has hampered him since his Australian Open exit to Mackenzie McDonald in January.
Though Nadal, whose 22 grand slam wins is only matched by Djokovic, could return to the top 10 once he is back in action, it will not be in the next month as he has also withdrawn from the Miami Masters.
Tweet from @atptour
The latest ATP rankings saw Djokovic drop to second place, while Medvedev moved from sixth to fifth, Felix Auger-Aliassime leapt from 10th to sixth, Hubert Hurkacz nudged into the top 10 as he moved up two places to ninth, while Taylor Fritz dropped from fifth to 10th.
Alex de Minaur remained in 18th despite his first-round exit at Indian Wells, three places below the career-high 15th achieved in 2021.
Nick Krygios is down two places at 24th, with Jason Kubler (up five to 70th) the next-best ranked Australian.
In all there are eight Aussies in the top 100 with Jordan Thompson (83), Chris O’Connell (86), Alexei Popyrin (93), Thanasi Kokkinakis (94) and Max Purcell (99) making up the octet.
-DPA
