Rafael Nadal will become No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday after reaching the China Open final.
Nadal will contest his 13th championship match of a remarkable season after World No. 5 Tomas Berdych retired at 2-4 in the first set in their Beijing semi-final on Saturday with a back injury.
"I barely can sit, I[can] barely can stand up [or] walk," said Berdych, who described the injury as new. The Czech No. 1 said he tweaked his back as he ran for a backhand slice.
Berdych voiced his respect for Nadal. "It's really incredibly well done in how short [a] time he [became] No. 1 again after [his] comeback... That's really an achievement."
Since returning from seven-month absence due to a left knee injury in February, Nadal has compiled a 65-3 match record on the season. He has won 10 titles from 12 finals, including the Roland Garros (d. Ferrer) and US Open (d. Djokovic) crowns plus five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophies.
The left-handed Nadal extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Berdych to 16-3. He has now won his last 15 clashes against Czech.
The 27-year-old Spaniard has had two stints at the summit of men’s professional tennis for a total of 102 weeks. Nadal first became No. 1 on 18 August 2008 for a period of 46 weeks. He regained top spot from Roger Federer on 7 June 2010 and added 56 weeks to his tally until relinquishing No. 1 to Novak Djokovic on 4 July 2011.
By reaching the final, Nadal is one win away from claiming his first China Open title since 2005.
He'll attempt to retain the year-end No. 1 ranking for the first time since 2010 and the third time overall (also ’08).
No comments:
Post a Comment