Rafael Nadal breaks Jimmy Connors' record for most successive weeks in ATP top 10

ByJames Walker-Roberts

Updated 09/11/2020 at 20:54 GMT

A week after recording his 1,000th ATP win, Rafael Nadal has broken a long-standing record set by Jimmy Connors. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has surpassed Connors by spending 790 consecutive weeks ranked in the top 10 in the world. He first broke into the top 10 in April 2005 and 81 per cent of his time in the top 10 has been spent ranked first or second in the world.

Rafael Nadal has broken Jimmy Connors' record for the most successive weeks spent in the ATP top 10.

Nadal first broke into the top 10 on April 25, 2005 after winning the first of his 11 titles in Barcelona – and he hasn’t left since.

He has now spent 790 consecutive weeks in the top 10, breaking Connors’ record of 789 weeks, which ran from August 23, 1973 until September 25, 1988.

ATP Rome

Are Nadal, Alcaraz, Djokovic playing Italian Open? When does it start?

6 hours ago

Roger Federer is third in the list with 734 weeks from October 14, 2002 until October 31, 2016.

Rafael Nadal recently won his 1,000 ATP match

Image credit: Getty Images

Just as impressive as Nadal's longevity is the fact that 81 per cent of his time in the top 10 has been spent at either No 1 (209 weeks) or No 2 (351 weeks) in the world.

He has also spent 57 weeks as world No 3, 54 weeks as world No 4 and 66 weeks as world No 5, meaning 93 per cent of his time in the top 10 has been spent in the top five.

Nadal also recently became the fourth player in history to reach 1,000 ATP Tour wins, joining Connors, Federer and Ivan Lendl on the landmark.

Asked at the Paris Master how he has managed to play at such a high level for so long, Nadal said: “Well, I am proud about a lot of things in my career. Of course I’ve faced issues in terms of injuries during different parts of my career. But I always hold the passion and the love to keep doing what I do, which is to play tennis.

• Zverev beats Nadal in Paris semis
• Nadal pleased with 'positive' showing in Paris

“So I’m proud that even after achieving a lot of things, that in some moments I’ve been able to keep being hungry, to keep going, and to be humble enough to accept the challenges, accept that in some moments things were not going the way that I expected.

“I’ve always had great help from the people around me. Without them, this would be impossible.”

The 790-week run does not include the 22 weeks earlier this year when the season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

ATP Madrid

Swiatek, Kyrgios see no issue with Nadal shirt request as Lehecka says it's 'kind of weird'

Yesterday at 18:57

ATP Madrid

Resurgent Nadal survives three-hour Cachin battle, Norrie crashes out

29/04/2024 at 20:08

ATP Madrid

Nadal gets revenge win over De Minaur, Tsitsipas crashes out

27/04/2024 at 22:19