Novak Djokovic Extends Lead Over Rafael Nadal in ATP Rankings

Published 04/29/2019, 4:09 PM EDT

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In the past week, the Barcelona Open and the Budapest Open came and concluded. With the respective tournaments ending, there have obviously been some chopping and changing in the ATP top 10. All this takes place ahead of the next tournament in Madrid. Now, World Number 1, Novak Djokovic has extended his lead over Rafael Nadal in the standings.

This will be the 249th week as World Number 1 for Novak Djokovic. The Serbian has amassed a mighty 3395 point gap to the Spaniard. Sadly for Nadal, he lost nearly a 1000 points owing to his failure to defend his titles at Monte Carlo and Barcelona. Nadal reached as high as the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, but couldn’t go all the way.

Fortunately for Nadal, inspite of meeting two stumbling blocks called Fabio Fognini and Dominic Thiem, he won’t be too worried. This is because, he is 2000 points clear of third-placed Alexander Zverev. The German player has only picked up 165 points in the last five ATP tournaments. Zverev has surprisingly struggled so far on clay and will be hoping for a change of fortune in Munich.

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Meanwhile, Roger Federer has clawed into Zverev’s lead to less than 200 points. He elected to skip Monte Carlo and Barcelona before kicking off his clay season in Madrid next week. Inspite of winning in Barcelona, Dominic Thiem has barely made a dent in Federer’s 500-point lead. But this will be a massive confidence boost after getting back to winning ways after just nine triumphs before the previous week.

Just outside the top 5, Kevin Anderson lies in 6th but could drop lower after he announced that he will skip the entire clay swing. The South African has been troubled by an elbow injury and hoped to recover in time for the grass season. Meanwhile, Kei Nishikori was downed in the Barcelona semi-final and stays 7th, ahead of Juan Martin del Potro and John Isner who leapfrogged Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Now, with all eyes on Madrid, the big question is, can Rafael Nadal catch up to Novak Djokovic or will Novak Djokovic extend his lead even further?

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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