Nadal to lose world number one ranking after defeat in Madrid
madrid — Claycourt king Rafael Nadal has played down the significance of his quarterfinal defeat by Austrian Dominic Thiem at the Madrid Open — a loss that ended a yearlong winning streak on clay and cost him the world number one ranking.
Nadal’s exit means Roger Federer will reclaim the number one spot when the revised ATP rankings are released on Monday.
The 31-year-old Spaniard looked unstoppable going into his Friday clash with fifth seed Thiem, having won 50 consecutive sets on the red dirt, but he was well beaten 7-5 6-3. Coincidentally, it was Thiem who last beat Nadal on clay, at last year’s Rome Masters, shortly before the Spaniard rampaged to a 10th French Open title without dropping a set. However, Nadal quickly slapped down any notion that world number seven Thiem knows the secret of beating the greatest ever exponent of claycourt tennis.
“Well, three weeks ago I beat him 6-0 6-3. I don’t know if that’s a tough player or not. I don’t think it’s that way,” Nadal, who also beat Thiem en route to the Roland Garros title last year, told reporters.
“I think it has just been a match where he was better than me, same as a few weeks ago I was better than him.
“If he beats me three times in a row, maybe we can say he reads my game and can beat me.”
Nadal will now focus on next week’s tournament in Rome where, should he win the title, he could reclaim the number one ranking from great rival Federer who has opted to sit out the claycourt season in preparation for Wimbledon and beyond.
Not that the Mallorcan will lose any sleep over it.
“You cannot be number one when you’ve been not playing for five months,” he said. “I think from Shanghai (last year) till Monte-Carlo, I hadn’t finished a single tournament. We’re talking about a lot of months that I gave up.” —