Rafael Nadal is celebrating a massive milestone this week, becoming the first player with 900 consecutive top-10 weeks! The Spaniard cracked the top-10 in April 2005 and has stayed there without leaving to secure the records that will take some beating.
The 16-year-old Nadal was ranked just outside the top-200 at the start of 2003, playing high-level tennis that year and continuing the meteoric progress through the ATP ranking list. After 19 Challenger triumphs (title in Barletta and three more finals) and the third-round appearance in Monte Carlo, Rafa cracked the top-100 in April, still at 16!
He stayed on a steady course in the following months and secured a top-50 spot in August. Despite a nasty injury that halted his rise in the spring of 2004, Nadal claimed his first ATP title in Sopot in August and helped Spain win the Davis Cup title.
2005 proved to be Nadal’s first great season on the Tour, competing in the fourth round of the Australian Open before conquering Costa do Sauipe and Acapulco on beloved clay.
Rafael Nadal is the only player with 900 consecutive top-10 weeks!
The best was yet to come for an extraordinary teenager, who stood two points away from winning the Miami crown against Roger Federer. Rafa lost that one in five sets before lifting the first Masters 1000 trophy in Monte Carlo a few weeks later.
Hungry for more, Nadal headed to Barcelona without rest and defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the best-of-five final. Thus, he grabbed another title and additional 300 points that propelled him into the top-10 for the first time.
At 18 years and ten months, Rafa became the eighth-youngest player in the mentioned group since the beginning of the ATP ranking in 1973. The Spaniard joined Aaron Krickstein, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Andre Agassi and Andrei Medvedev on that list.
Embracing the top-10 honor on April 25, 2005, Nadal has never left the group. He has counted one tremendous or at least reliable season after another to pass the opponents in front of him and become a player with the most consecutive top-10 weeks.
The Spaniard survived his darkest years in 2015 and 2016 and returned to where he belonged in 2017. Rafa played only 29 matches in 2021 due to injuries, skipping the second part of the season after Roland Garros and hoping for a better run in 2022.
The great Spaniard made a perfect comeback, winning two Major titles this season and wrapping it up in the top-2. At 36 years and six months, Rafa is the oldest year-end top-2 player, taking the record away from Roger Federer. Nadal is eager for another strong run in 2023, setting his eyes on more notable titles and another top-10 season.