 |
| Rafael Nadal |
Former world no. 1 and 11 times grand slam champion, Rafael
Nadal has slipped further in the Association
of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings to the fifth spot.
The Spanish player has not played active tennis since June
last year at the Wimbledon. He played Czech player Lukáš Rosol, then ranked 100th
in the world, in the second round. Nadal was defeated by Rosol in the 7-6 (9),
4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6 five-set thriller, a first since the Wimbledon 2005
championship that Nadal has failed to
progress past the 2nd round of a Grand Slam tournament.
Nadal’s 2012 has been plagued with injury forcing him to
withdraw from the 2012 Olympics in July due to tendonitis.
He also pulled out of the Rogers Cup,
Cincinnati Masters and US Open.
Nadal fell to a world no. 4 ranking, his lowest since 2010,
on the 11th of September 2012. He officially withdrew from the just concluded Australian
Open two weeks to the tournament citing a stomach virus as the reason for
delaying his famed comeback. This withdrawal saw him drop out of the ATP top 4 for
the first time since 2005.
Fellow Spaniard David Ferrer who was beaten by eventual
Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic in the semifinal now ranks 4th.
The top 3 spots did not change with Novak Djokovic (SRB), Roger Federer (SUI)
and Andy Murray (GBR) occupying 1st, 2nd and 3rd
positions respectively.
Nadal has chosen the Viña del Mar tournament coming up in
Chile between 4th and 10th February as the tonic for his
comeback. He will then move to Brazil from February 11 through February 17
for the 2013 Brasil Open, an indoor tournament. Both tournaments are played on
his preferred clay court surface.
No comments:
Post a Comment