The Spaniard Rafael Nadal pointed out that his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz has deservedly earned first place in the ATP world rankings, and predicted that the Norwegian Casper Ruud, with whom he will star in an exhibition match this Sunday in Quito, will also arrive soon at that position.
Asked by EL UNIVERSO, Rafa considered that it will be difficult for the two Spaniards to stay at the forefront of the world rankings for a long time. For the first time in 26 years, two players from the same country lead the ATP ranking at the end of the season: Alcaraz, as number one, and Nadal, after him. Ruud finished in third position.
Do you think that the 1-2 Alcaraz-Nadal will be a trend that we will see continue in the next two years? “I don’t think it’s going to be a trend, honestly. It is difficult to maintain such a high level, it is also true that I play very few events at this point in time, so it is difficult to maintain a ranking very high because you have to be very alternate to the events that you compete. As always, we will fight. Carlos has incredible potential and that is why he is where he is, because he deserves it without a doubt, and he is also very young, he has many years ahead of him”, said the Spaniard at the press conference held in Plaza San Francisco, in the center history of Quito
“Casper has already been there (on the podium). He already came very close to world number one from winning his first Grand Slam this year at the USA Open. Maybe he was about to go two sets to one up … and Casper is done, he was number two (in September 2022), he is number three. He is fighting for the most important tournaments in the world and he is one of the candidates to fight for everything in every event he plays, ”added the only tennis player who has 22 Grand Slam titles to his credit.
The ranking final does justice to what was seen during the season. Two names have stood out above the rest and two names, both Spanish, are at the top of the latest ATP ranking: Alcaraz, as number one, and Nadal, behind him.
In five of the eight Masters 1,000, there has been a Spanish finalist (Alcaraz won in Miami and Madrid; Pablo Carreño, in Montreal; Nadal and Alejandro Davidovich, for their part, lost in the Indian Wells and Monte Carlo finals, respectively). In three of the four Grand Slams, the champion has also been national, with the Murcian triumphing at the US Open and Nadal, at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
Alcaraz, after Nadal’s fall in the group stage of the ATP Finals in November, made sure to end the year as the youngest number one in history; The Spaniard, however, had to wait until the last moment to see his second place certified. Casper Ruud, defeated in the Turin final by Novak Djokovic, would have been behind Alcaraz if he had triumphed. It did not happen and the Norwegian, who started the season as eighth, finishes third. Behind him, a Stefanos Tsitsipas who, had he achieved the Masters Cup undefeated, would have climbed to the top. The Greek, who closes the year in the same place where he started it, is ahead of a rising Djokovic, who arrived in Italy as eighth. After winning his sixth Finals undefeated (1,500 credits as booty), the Serbian climbs to the fifth step, far from the throne where he started the season, but in the middle of a comeback operation after seeing his ranking drop in the strangest course of his career.
Félix Auger-Aliassime (sixth), Daniil Medvedev (seventh), Andrey Rublev (eighth), Taylor Fritz (ninth) and Hubert Hurkacz (tenth) close a top 10 that leaves Holger Rune (eleventh), Alexander Zverev (twelfth) or Pablo Carreño (thirteenth), the Spanish best placed after Alcaraz and Nadal.
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Source: Eluniverso
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