Confirmed: Rafael Nadal certain to replace Novak Djokovic as world number one next month

ATP Tour
Rafael Nadal celebrates at US Open

Rafael Nadal will regain the world number one ranking from Novak Djokovic next month despite not playing since winning the US Open.

Djokovic has held the spot all year, and has had another stellar year, capturing two Grand Slam titles along the way.

However, Djokovic’s quarter-final exit at the Shanghai Masters will cost him 320 of the points he was defending after winning it last season.

Furthermore, Djokovic is committed to exhibition events later this year, meaning he will not be able to claim any points from the ATP500 tournaments in Basel or Vienna.

Nadal, by contrast, has no more points to defend this season, which makes his current total unreachable for Djokovic and means the Spaniard will return to the to of the rankings on November 4th after the Paris Masters.

“I don’t compete for it,” Nadal recently said of the world number one ranking.

“I just do my way. If I am able to be number one doing it my way, great. But I always say the same: today is not my main goal.

“Of course, it’s great to be in that fight. But for me personally, it’s not really a fight.

“I just try be competitive the weeks that I need to compete, or the weeks that I want to compete.

“For me, my main goal is play as long as possible and compete, being competitive.

“Sometimes if you need to follow the number one, you are going to lose years of your career.”

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Novak Djokovic Rafael Nadal

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