’17 YEARS’ – McEnroe amazed by incredible Rafael Nadal ATP rankings stat

Former Roland Garros doubles champion Patrick McEnroe is astounded by the news that Rafael Nadal has now spent 17 consecutive years inside the ATP top 10.   

The 35-year-old first breached the top 10 on 25th April 2005 after winning his maiden Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open titles back-to-back as an 18-year-old.

He has now been there ever since, not once dropping below 10th in the world in 6200 plus days, or 887 weeks, a record by 98 weeks, over a year.

McEnroe tweeted on the news: “For 17 years, every single week, Rafael Nadal has been a top 10 player.

“17 YEARS,” he repeated in all caps, incredulous.

One might think Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who have both spent more time as world number one than Nadal, have held similar streaks.

However, both have had spells outside the top 10 since first breaking through.

While Federer had short stints in the top 10 of seven and three weeks after first climbing so high in May 2002, he then spent a little over 14 years consecutively there between October 2002 and October 2016 before injury saw him drop to 16th in the rankings.

Similarly, Djokovic first reached the top 10 in May 2007, staying there until dropping out again for the first time over 10 years later in November 2017.

Of course both Federer and Djokovic returned to the top 10 and both even reached number one again, with the Serb still building on a record tally of 367 weeks there at time of publication.

For 17 years, every single week, @RafaelNadal has been a top 10 player.

17 YEARS

— Patrick McEnroe (@PatrickMcEnroe) April 26, 2022

Nadal, Jimmy Connors and Federer make up the top three for most consecutive weeks in the top 10 at 887, 789 and 741 respectively.

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