Novak Djokovic Could Replace Rafael Nadal as New World No.1 After Madrid Masters
After being almost invincible on clay for years, Spanish world No.1 Rafael Nadal arrives at Madrid having lost in the quarterfinals of his first two clay events this year, at Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
Serbian World No.2 Novak Djokovic has a chance to regain the number one spot in the ATP rankings if he wins the Madrid Masters title next Sunday and current world No.1 Rafael Nadal loses before the quarterfinals.
Nadal currently has 12,900 ATP ranking points compared to Djokovic's 11,040 but the catch lies in the fact that the Spaniard has 1,000 points to defend at the Madrid Masters, where he is the defending champion. If Djokovic manages to win the title, he would reach 12,030 points, while Nadal will drop to 11,990 points if he does not reach the quarterfinals, according to ATP calculations.
Nadal replaced Djokovic as the world No.1 in October last year.
The good thing for Djokovic is that even if he does not overtake Nadal as the new No.1 next week, he could close in on the Spaniard considerably, since Nadal would not be able to add to his points at Madrid. Nadal will also be defending titles at Rome and at the French Open, which gives Djokovic a great chance to be at the top again this year.
After being almost invincible on clay for years, Nadal has lost in the quarterfinals of the first two clay events he has taken part in this year, at Monte Carlo and Barcelona. Djokovic, on the other hand, comes to Madrid after recovering from a wrist injury he suffered at Monte Carlo two weeks ago. Before the start of the 2014 clay season, the Serbian had won two back-to-back masters titles on hard courts in America, at Indian Wells and Miami.