Rafael Nadal, the legendary tennis ace, has made and broken many records. Such as holding the ranking of world no.1 for a record 209 weeks. The 21 times Grand Slam champion is still in form and has shown no signs of stopping. Further, since his debut in professional tennis in the year 2001, the Spaniard hasn’t given a single year of subpar performance.

Therefore, his dedication to the game and flawless skill set has brought him a record that will take decades to break. Rafa now has 17 years of experience in being in the top 10 ten of ATP. He has broken Jimmy Connor’s record of 789 weeks.

Andy Roddick Appreciates Rafael Nadal

Andy Roddick is quite vocal about his thoughts. Be it him condemning the Nick Kyrgios for his aggression or appreciating rising players such Carlos Alcaraz, he never shies away. Thus staying true to himself, Andy seems to be blown by the splendid 17 years run of Rafael Nadal. Former world no.1 took on twitter to showcase his appreciation. He shared the stats and wrote, “this is absurd.”

Nadal won his first Barcelona Open title in 2005 and climbed from the ranking of World no.11 to world no.10. Thus making his debut in the elite list of ATP. Just to give a quick realization of how far he has come, Rafa now has 12 Barcelona Open titles under his name.

Rafa’s Reign This Year

Nadal gave a blistering 20-0 start to the year. He conquered three consecutive tournaments, namely Melbourne Summer, The Australian Open, and the Mexican Open. By winning the Australian open, Rafa broke the three-way tie of 20 Grand Slams between him, Djokovic and Federer. Following that, he made a run till the finals of Indian wells and suffered his first loss of the year against Taylor Fritz, the American tennis professional.

That being said, Nadal is holding the ranking of world no.4 and he can only move upwards as he has already scored 3350 ranking points, which is enough to keep him afloat. In addition, his current form will allow no one, to take him down easily.

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However, Nadal’s injury might cause his ranking some harm. He incurred a chest injury in the semifinals of Indian Wells against Carlos Alcaraz, which is still pestering him. Rafael Nadal, who is known as the king of clay, might have to sit out of the entire clay court season.