USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Home / World

Christmas comes early for world No 1 Nadal

China Daily | Updated: 2008-10-20 07:40

Christmas comes early for world No 1 Nadal

PARIS: Rafael Nadal is assured of finishing the year as world No 1 following Roger Federer's defeat in the Madrid Masters, the ATP said.

Nadal becomes the 15th year-end No 1 since Ilie Nastase in 1973, with names such as Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Federer himself all having managed the feat.

After Federer's semifinal loss to Andy Murray in Madrid, the 22-year-old Mallorca native, who was also a semifinal loser to Gilles Simon, was certain to become the first left-hander since John McEnroe in 1984 and the third lefty in the 36-year history of the ATP rankings to be No 1 at the season's end.

McEnroe had the honor from 1981-84 and Jimmy Connors sat on top of the world from 1974-78. Nadal is the first Spaniard to follow in their footsteps.

Nadal took over the No 1 ranking on Aug 18 after placing second for a record 160 consecutive weeks (since July 25, 2005).

Federer held the top position for a record 237 straight weeks from Feb 2, 2004 to Aug 17 this year.

Nadal said: "To become No 1 during the year was one of my goals and it is important to have achieved it. Moreover, if you finish the year as No 1 it is even more special.

"I am also very happy to bring something more to Spanish sport, something for Spanish history and for our great tennis tradition."

Nadal, who won eight tournaments and won 80 of his 90 matches during the year, became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon double after dethroning five-time champion Federer in a five-set epic at the All England Club.

Nadal, who also captured this summer's Olympic title, is one of four players to have so far qualified for the season-ending Masters Cup Shanghai, which begins Nov 9.

Federer, Novak Djokovic and Murray are the other qualifiers.

AFP

(China Daily 10/20/2008 page11)

Today's Top News

Editor's picks

Most Viewed

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US