World Number One Battle: Rafael Nadal Closing in on Year-End Crown

The battle for the year-end No.1 in the ATP rankings between the top two players, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will go down right up to the last minute as the scenarios for who will finish the 2019 season in top spot straiten a bit after Nadal’s triumph over Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday.

World No.1 Rafael Nadal completed an incredible come back after he fought back from 5-1 down and saved a match point in the deciding set to defeat Daniil Medvedev in their second round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals 2019 to boost his hopes for finishing as year-end No.1. The victory meant that the Spaniard remains 640 ATP points ahead of Djokovic in the year-end No.1 battle.

While Novak Djokovic has a must-win match against Roger Federer in their third round-robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals 2019 on Thursday. The winner will advance to the semi-finals. The loser will be eliminated.

Year-End No. 1 Scenarios

• Rafael Nadal finishes No. 1 disregarding Djokovic’s result if the Mallorcan reaches the final.
• If Novak Djokovic fails to win the ATP World Tour Finals 2019, Nadal will finish as year-end No.1.
• World No.2 Novak Djokovic will finish No. 1 only if he wins the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals title, provided Nadal does not reach the final.
• If the 32-year-old loses to the six times ATP Finals champion Federer then Rafael Nadal will automatically clinch the year-end No. 1 spot for the fifth time. Djokovic must go on to win the title to have a chance of finishing on top.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal is looking to claim year-end No. 1 spot for the fifth time in his career. With this, he will tie with Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Jimmy Connors.

While Novak Djokovic will aim to equal Pete Sampras’ record of six year-end No. 1 finishes in the ATP rankings.