Rafael Nadal will enter French Open as the World No 1. (Source: AP)
Rafael Nadal returned to top of the ATP rankings a week after he lost the spot to Roger Federer. As per the updated rankings on Monday, Nadal is once again the World No 1 having won the Rome Masters event on Sunday. A 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Alexander Zverev in a rain-interrupted final in Rome ensured the 31-year-old would leapfrog Federer and become world number one for a sixth time ahead of the French Open. The second grand slam of the year gets underway on Sunday (May 27).
With Federer skipping the clay court season for a second year in a row, the top seeding was long assured for Nadal who will head to Paris a strong favourite to get his hands on the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a record-extending 11th time. “Everything will be different in Paris,” Nadal said somewhat disingenuously after his victory at the Foro Italico. “Of course a win like this helps but in Paris the conditions will be different in every respect. Today is the time to enjoy this victory, not for thinking about Roland Garros.”
“I played one of the best sets that I played on clay this year. First set was fantastic, in my opinion, in terms of everything,” he added.
“Feeling, good shots, tactically — everything was, in my opinion great in the first set, no. Returning great. All the things that I wanted to do happened. So, it was a great set.”
Zverev, who had won back-to-back claycourt titles over the previous two weeks in Munich and Madrid, stays constant at World No 3 and will enter French Open as the second seed.
Marin Cilic, who reached the semifinals in Rome, moved a place over Grigor Dimitrov to World No 4 with the Bulgarian suffering a first round exit for a second week running.
Novak Djokovic who lost to Nadal in the semifinals and had arguably his best tournament in the year, slid further in the rankings. By dropping four places, the Serbian now stands at World No 22.
Mate Pavic new doubles World No 1
24-year-old Mate Pavic became the youngest player to hold the number one spot in the men’s doubles ranking as he replaces Poland’s Lukas Kubot. “It means a lot for sure,” Pavic told ATP World Tour website in Rome. “I believed that I could do it one day, but honestly I didn’t think that it could happen that fast, considering that last year — at this time — I was ranked around No. 30.” Pavic is the youngest doubles No 1 since Australia’s Todd Woodbridge 22 years back.