Roger Federer replaces Rafael Nadal at the top of the ATP rankings

05/14/2018

Rafael Nadal's quarter-final exit at the hands of Domonic Thiem in Madrid has resulted in the Spaniard dropping a place in the ATP rankings which has resulted in Roger Federer overtaking him. Th Swiss maestro has decided to give the entire clay season a miss for the second time in as many years.

Rafael Nadal was dominating on clay and had won the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open and looked like he would enter Roland Garros as the top ranked player in the world. However, his premature exit from the Madrid Open has seen him being replaced at the top by Roger Federer as the world's number one in the latest ATP rankings that were released today.

Novak Djokovic has slid down six places to 18th after his second round defeat in Madrid. The former world No.1 Serbian has seen his current place as his lowest ranking since 2006. Alexander Zverev stands at third after having won the Madrid Open final on Sunday against Dominic Thiem. Though Thiem had defeated Nadal in the quarters, the defeat at the finals resulted in a drop to eighth.

31-year-old Kevin Anderson was knocked out by Thiem in the semi-finals but the South African enjoys the seventh spot while Madrid semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov has seen his biggest jump up the rank ladder as he climbs 14 rungs to his best ever 29th.

Among the Indians, Yuki Bhambri dropped eight places to secure the 94th rank on the chart while Sasi Kumar Mukund, who made his first ever singles quarterfinals at Challenger level, jumped 45 places to 377 in the ATP singles chart.