It has been difficult times for Rafael Nadal after his Indian Wells final defeat against Taylor Fritz. The former World Number 1 suffered a stress fracture in his ribs that kept him away from tennis for six weeks. As a result, the Spaniard missed the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.

Subsequently, he made a comeback at the Madrid Open in his native country. However, he lost in the quarterfinals of that tournament against compatriot, Carlos Alcaraz. Yesterday, he had a disappointing third-round defeat against Denis Shapovalov at the Italian Open. Due to his early defeat, Nadal has suffered a massive blow to his ATP ranking.

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Rafael Nadal set to drop out of the top four of the ATP rankings

Lifting the title last year in Rome, Nadal failed to defend his title this season with his loss against Shapovalov. Further, the Spaniard will lose crucial ranking points which will see him drop a spot to be ranked number five on the ATP rankings chart. With the former World Number 1 dropping out of the top four, he might potentially face Novak Djokovic as early as the quarterfinals of the French Open later this month.

This comes as a huge blow to Nadal, who is already battling injury issues. Even in his defeat against Shapovalov, Nadal faced foot issues throughout the course of the match.

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Talking about playing with injuries, Nadal said, “I am not injured. I am a player living with an injury, that’s it.…my day by day is difficult, honestly.…of course it’s difficult for me to accept sometimes.”

Shapovalov marches on

It was sweet revenge for the Canadian star, who had earlier lost against Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2022. After a disappointing start to the match, Shapovalov came back strongly to win the match in three sets 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

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Up next, the 23-year-old will face Casper Ruud in the Italian Open quarterfinals. Their match will take place later today.