By Chris Oddo | Monday August 21, 2017
Rafael Nadal begins his 4th stint atop the ATP rankings on Monday, and his 142nd week as No.1.
Also See: Rankings Chaos Awaits WTA Field at U.S. Open
The 15-time major champion, who first climbed to the top of the ATP rankings on August 18th 2008, has made rankings history by holding the top ranking over nine years after he first rose to No.1. No other ATP player has been No.1 so long after first reaching the pinnacle of the rankings.
Nadal takes over from Andy Murray, who spend 41 weeks at No.1, and makes his first appearance at the top of the rankings for the first time since July 6, 2014.
26 ATP players have held the ATP’s No.1 ranking and a member of the Big 4 of Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray has held it since Federer first climbed to No.1 on February 2nd of 2004.
At next week’s U.S. Open, Nadal will compete with Federer and Murray for the top ranking. All three have a shot to emerge as No.1 after the last major of 2017.
In other rankings news, Grigor Dimitrov returns to the Top 10 at No.9 in the world on the strength of his first Masters 1000 title at Cincinnati.
20-year-old German Alexander Zverev rises to a career-high No.6 in the world, leapfrogging Marin Cilic.
This year's Cincinnati runner-up Nick Kyrgios (from 23 to 18) and semifinalist John Isner (from 19 to 14) each jump five spots, while American Jared Donaldson (from 60 to 51) hits his 9th career-high ranking of the season.