Rafael Nadal Beats Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer To Claim Yet Another Elite Record [Details]

Rafael Nadal has reportedly beaten arch-rivals Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to claim yet another elite record.

Nadal is the current World No. 4 player, according to the latest men's singles ATP rankings. With this, Nadal has completed 17 uninterrupted years in the ATP top 10, which is the longest streak in rankings history, according to tennis.com.

While Djokovic is the World No. 1 ATP player at present, Russia's Danii Medvedev is in second place, ahead of Germany's Alexander Zverv, Nadal and Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas, according to the rankings announced by ATP on Monday.

The 35-year-old first broke into the top 10 of the ATP rankings as an 18-year-old on April 25, 2005, after he lifted the trophy at Barcelona Open. Seventeen years later, the Spaniard has 12 titles at Barcelona and has not dropped out of the top 10 for even a single week since then.

In fact, Nadal has held the record for the longest top 10 streak in ATP rankings history since November 2020, when he surpassed Jimmy Connors' previous record of just over 15 years.

Most consecutive weeks in the top 10 in ATP rankings history (including this week):

866 weeks - Rafael Nadal (2005-present)
789 weeks - Jimmy Connors (1973-1988)
741 weeks - Roger Federer (2002-2016)
619 weeks - Ivan Lendl (1980-1992)
565 weeks - Pete Sampras (1990-2001)

Djokovic, who first came into the top 10 of the ATP rankings in 2007, has fallen out of the bracket on a number of occasions. After staying in the top 10 for a decade, the Serbian fell to No. 12 in 2017. His ranking went as low as No. 22 a year later, before he made a comeback later that year. He has remained in the top 10 ever since.

After triumphing at the Australian Open 2022, Nadal won his 21st Grand Slam title, breaking a three-way tie with Federer and Djokovic to set the new men's record for most major titles in tennis history.

Earlier it was reported that Nadal's teenage compatriot Carlos Alcaraz became the ninth-youngest player to enter the top 10. Alcaraz is ranked ninth in the ATP singles rankings. He achieved the feat after defeating Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-2 to claim the Barcelona Open title – his career's fourth ATP trophy.

Alcaraz is now 4-0 in his career in ATP finals, and an even more impressive fact is that he's triumphed in all of those finals in straight sets – something that eluded even Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.