Rafael Nadal Is Down To No. 7 In The ATP Rankings, First Time Out Of The Top 5 In 10 Years!

Time and time again I warned people in this thread of hedging their bet over Rafa’s la decima in Roland Garros. But, wistful folks ranted me. Last year I warned people who wanted Novak to topple Rafa terming it as an impossible feat but that was in 2014. This year Rafa will be ousted from RG before semifinal, djokovic may not have to face him in final. I am not saying Novak will win RG this year.

May 11th, 2015 at 9:51 am

Rafa was ranked #7 in the “so called” weak era? Impossible! lol.

May 11th, 2015 at 9:53 am

Rafa not being in the top 4 is a big deal for his French Open hopes. He could be forced to beat Djokovic, Murray or Nishikori as early as the QF now. This ups the odds that he will have to play multiple players who can beat him on clay in the final rounds, which he doesn’t normally have to do. I still give him a chance to win, because of his history but his odds are clearly lowering now. If he were to win in Rome, that would catapult him back into the top 4, but I don’t see that happening.

May 11th, 2015 at 9:58 am

https://twitter.com/mramazinglyace/status/597740983963525120
Lol

May 11th, 2015 at 10:04 am

Hey skeezer. Your man dropped down to #9 not long ago.

May 11th, 2015 at 10:06 am

rafa’s 6th in the live race, and roger is 7th. the numbers are here:

http://live-tennis.eu/race

May 11th, 2015 at 10:22 am

This could be the year Soderling loses his “only man to beat Rafa at RG” status. The way he’s lookin’ right now, Nadal could be gone by the 3rd or 4th round in Paris. Djoker might end up like Federer and win the French with an asterisk beside his name: *didn’t have to beat Nadal.

May 11th, 2015 at 10:29 am

lol such aan weak era that top 5 ranked player all were slamwinners.

that is such a great debunker of the weakera thickheads!

Who do we have in top 5 today???

yes thats right 2 guys who cannot string their shoelaces in a slamfinal let alone string together a couple of decent service holds. Nishikori got bumbaźled in his final.

May 11th, 2015 at 11:26 am

Wow: what a record! 10 straight years in the top 5, bravo rafa! 8 of those year end top 2! The 2 none top 2 finishes due to absence off tour due to unfortunate injury (12′,14′). What a master! Form is temporary, class is permanent and make no mistake rafa is class. Sure he’s outside the top 5: but reality check. Reality is: 1-he’s less than 200 mere points From being 4 in this season’s race. An indication that despite the noise of collpase, their is ONLY 3 players who are performing better than him overall this year on the tour. And all those guys did not have a wrist injury, operation in the winter, 7 mired months prior to this season. That’s a reality. Considering that: rafa is actually doing very well IMO. 2. His last result was being RU in a master series event. How the hell is that a horrendous result? Considering its his best performance this season: shouldn’t we cut him some slack and say hey he’s improved on Barcelona (his last event)? Ultimately: I think we should cut rafa some slack. Show him some respect. I include myself foremost when I say that. Judge him on his 2015 reality. Have some understanding and perspective. IF he compare to his past it’s obviously not up to mark. But ask yourself this: would rafa really have had a sensational 2008, 2010 IF he pretty much been off tour for the 7 months prior to that season? Is it really fair to expect another 2013 when all intelligent people considering that a brilliant run since such performances are not normal at all? Is it really fair to that? I say judge him if you want. It’s cool. But be fair about it. Like Andy Murray has been: he’s said that he understands why rafa is struggling in the eyes of many. He’s not. He’s doing well actually for a player trying to rediscover his game after a layoff and operation.

May 11th, 2015 at 11:55 am

“Ultimately: I think we should cut rafa some slack.”

You’ve been harder on him than anyone else.

May 11th, 2015 at 12:02 pm

@Ben: I agree. Hence why I said I include myself foremost on that front.

May 11th, 2015 at 12:14 pm

wohhohaa nishikori isnt even top 5.

berdy and raonic complete top 5…..

Wow thats not weak at all….lets face it top 5 in 2005 is much better then todays top 5.

How about them apples?

May 11th, 2015 at 12:14 pm

Sienna – only in a demented Fed fans mind is 2005 field + Fedrer a stronger field than Novak + Andy &Fed&Berdych&Milos with a regular Top 5 player and all-time Great in a momentary dip.

May 11th, 2015 at 2:03 pm

4 of 5 from 2005 top 5 were better then todays top 5

Only #2 seed is better then 2005 top seed.

May 11th, 2015 at 2:32 pm

@skeezer

Nadal was #7 when he was only 18.
18. Yea 18. He was 18 and yet was
able to climb to #7. That says a lot about
that “highly competitive era”.

Being able to say retarded things is nothing
to be happy about skeez.

May 11th, 2015 at 2:46 pm

It is obvoiusly a weaker era now. Fed is nursing home age in tennis terms and is still ranked number 2.

May 11th, 2015 at 2:47 pm

5 of those 7 listed in 2005 have won Slams. Whi’s demented?

May 11th, 2015 at 2:52 pm

*6 out of 7

May 11th, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Thanks kjb, missed one👍

May 11th, 2015 at 3:00 pm

Hamza,
Yes a Slam @18. Rafa was that good, that young.
Still, take Rafa out of that list, you still have a majority on that list who won Slams. Now, I’m beijg called demented and retarded. Must be a frustrating time for some here lol.

May 11th, 2015 at 3:23 pm

Btw hiow old was Becker when he won Wimby, and Chang @FO?

May 11th, 2015 at 3:31 pm

Rafa’s form vs. Murray was troubling for sure, but his 2015 clay results are about like 2014: lost to Nole in MC; quarters in B-lona (Ferrer I think); won Madrid because Nishikori retired; lost to Nole in Rome. Still, he won RG . . .

May 11th, 2015 at 3:39 pm

@ 10:06 am
“Your man dropped down to #9 not long ago.”
You mean Federer? Then please tell when exactly it happened.

May 11th, 2015 at 4:42 pm

02/2005 Rafa yet had to win his first slam.

Let’s face it!

For weeks Chrissie Ford has been pushing and filling weakera theory with incoherent and out of sync comments, only to be left with enormous ammount of egg on her face with one random list of top 5 out of probably one of the stronger periods of tennis. When tennis was not one sizey fits all.

All those players in top 5 were slamwinmers and many had been #1 in the world….

May 11th, 2015 at 4:49 pm

@lyle nubbins: Nadal never looked as bad now as he did in 2014. He never had a troubled look in his face until this year. Well anyway, I still would not discount him for the French. He just might shock everyone and win that one in spite of his poor showing so far.

May 11th, 2015 at 5:31 pm

2014 he had made several finals: won Doha, final in AO, won Rio, final in Miami, won Madrid, final in Rome. He was the #1 player for that strecth, including points wise leading the race pre RG I believe. Situation now is completely different. If he doesn’t reach Rome final he wil gona full 52 weeks with a title at RG (14′), title in Buenos Aires (250) and final in Madrid (Masters). Remove RG out of the equation and you have a low top 10 year at best.

Of course, he had to face injury and appendix surgery missing a few months.

May 11th, 2015 at 9:20 pm

This could all be a ruse. Strategy and tactics cooked up by Uncle Toni. I don’t count out Rafa to win FO until he actually loses it.

May 11th, 2015 at 9:45 pm

jalep i think people who count out rafa from winning the FO are crazy! lol. we sometimes forget he’s a poker player. ;) j/k

May 11th, 2015 at 9:53 pm

@jane. Dr. Rafa and Uncle Toni have a plan ;) j/k too.

May 11th, 2015 at 10:15 pm

Are all these Nadal clay court losses premeditated then? Interesting theory. True or fase, I still pick Rafa to win the French.

May 11th, 2015 at 10:36 pm

We are just goofing around, Markus. But there could be a grain of truth somewhere. Remember Rafa’s surprise weapon rocket serve that one US Open?

May 11th, 2015 at 11:41 pm

Rafa was able to dominate Berdych who is no slouch – then he had a really bad day against Murray –

He may not beat Nole at Rome but once he gets to Paris he’ll really get going – in some ways, not so much pressure to win in 5-sets as there is in 3.

May 12th, 2015 at 3:07 am

It is obvoiusly a weaker era now

For me, probably the weakest era.

May 12th, 2015 at 3:26 am

Hamza,

becker won wimbledon in 85 at age 17. That was probably the strongest era ever – Mcenroe at his peak, Lendl at his peak, Wilander at his peak, Connors still around. So Rafa ranked No. 7 at age 18 is noway an indicator of weak (or strong) era.

90s was the weak era, which sampras fully exploited.

The last 10 years have been probably strongest era ever. When have two players of the Caliber of Federer and Nadal gone H2H against each other for 10 years straight? And then we have Djokovic also there for most of those 10 – who again might end up being in the same league as nadal and Federer? So three such players gutting it out against each other – when has that happened, ever? The only two other players who qualify in this class are Borg and Sampras, but they never played each other.

The fact that Fed, Nadal, and djokovic have all had to play ear other 40+ times is an incredibly strong era. Credit Fed for hanging in there with an age disadvantage – 5 years older to Nadal, 6 years older to Djoke. When the age is matched (Nadal versus Djoke), we know what the H2H is (and where its headed!).

May 12th, 2015 at 8:02 am

let’s see:
in 2005 the top 10 shared a total of 19 slams
in 2015 the top 10 shares a total of 43 slams
fed – 17
rafa – 14
nole – 8
andy – 2
stan – 1
cilic – 1
must indeed be the weakest era ever right now.
lol!

May 12th, 2015 at 5:59 pm

Basically shows lack of commonsense. The data looks padded because of Roger and Rafa.

Let’s look at Roger. He is pretty much done with GS titles. Even reaching a semis is a milestone for him. He is pretty much out of the equation.

Rafa – The guy has not played a full season for past 2 years (or may be more). And he is struggling for his relevancy in clay itself.

Cilic / Stan – Where are they?

Now look at the stat. Reality would show up.

May 13th, 2015 at 5:02 am