(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
After falling to Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter final, 7-6(5), 6-1, Rafael Nadal has lost his No. 2 world ranking as No.3 Andy Murray defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Saturday's closely contested semifinal, 6-4, 7-6 (8). In a display of one of the best defenses in the tour and widest variety of shots, Murray prevailed over the Frenchman and became the first British player in the history of the ATP Rankings (since 1973) to occupy the No. 2 spot. Previously, eleven other players have achieved the feat in the open era, since the rankings began.
However, Murray's new crown is not asteriskless as he is the only one among the current top five players without a major title. He indirectly acknowledged the lack.
“It’s great,” said Murray. “In terms of rankings [it is] the biggest step I've made so far. I played consistently well this year, so bar winning a [Grand] Slam, I've done enough to justify being [No.] 2, and getting closer to hopefully one day becoming No. 1 is one of my goals. I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this stage, and I keep working hard to go one step farther” (emphasis added).
Since July 18, 2005, Nadal and Roger Federer have occupied No. 1 and No. 2, and this is the first time a player will break the Nadal-Federer duo's stranglehold of the top two spots.
The immediate consequence did not reflect in yesterday's Cincinnati Masters draw, where Nadal is still seeded as No. 2 and could face Novak Djokovic in the semifinal, but the same may not hold true for long if the Spaniard does not win the Cincinnati title, and if Murray makes a deeper run beyond the quarter final in the same event.
Even if the Spaniard, a two-time champion in Canada ('05, '08), had survived the Argentine and reached the semifinal (8845 points), Nadal, whose next opponent would have been Andy Roddick, was not safe from losing his No. 2 ranking to Murray.
The Scott, by reaching the final, earned 8850 ranking points, i.e. 185 points more than Nadal's. With the win over Juan Martin del Potro in the final on Sunday, 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-1, Murray's ranking points has reached 9250, increasing the margin against Nadal by 585 points.
After Federer and Nadal lost in the quarter (8665 points), only Tsonga could have done the Spaniard a favor and saved him from losing the No. 2 ranking, but that did not happen today. In another hypothetical scenario, if Federer had reached the semifinal, he would have been in Tsonga's position to defeat Murray (8610 points) and rescue Nadal.
Would not that have been a strange situation to witness, even for a fleeting moment?
If Nadal cannot reclaim his No. 2 before the US Open, he could be seeded for the first time in Federer's half after more than four years and will meet the Swiss in the semifinal, if both make it, for the second time since 2005 French Open semifinal (I excluded 2006 and 2007 Year End Championshios due to the Round Robin format).
It is not inconceivable for Nadal to reclaim his No. 2 ranking before the US Open. If he wins the Cincinnati Maters title and if Murray falls before the semifinal, the Scott will not get a chance to enjoy the No. 2 seeding in the US Open. The point is the Spaniard is not out of the striking distance.
Let's rewind the tape a bit.
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