Rafael Nadal has added a cherry on top of a stellar 2022 season as he is celebrating a landmark 800th week as a Top 5 player on the ATP Tour.
The Spaniard has an illustrious resume. This season, he became the first man to win 21 Grand Slams in singles, eclipsing his great rival Roger Federer when he defeated Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final.
When he beat Cameron Norrie at the end of February to bag his third title of the season in Acapulco, it culminated in his career-best season on Tour. His undefeated streak of 20 matches came to an end in the Indian Wells final when he lost to Taylor Fritz.
But Nadal is aiming to get his season back on track on his favorite swing, the European clay, where he has excelled in the past. He is already ticking off a personal record this week.
He is the second man in ATP rankings history to be ranked in the Top 5 for 800 weeks after Roger Federer (859). This total does not include the 22 weeks that were frozen because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nadal was a top-five player at the time.
One thing to note is that the 800 weeks are non-consecutive, although Nadal enjoyed a remarkable stay in the upper elite group, spending 522 consecutive weeks in the top five between May 2005 and May 2015.
And even when Nadal fell lower than 5th in the rankings, he hasn't left the world's Top 10 since he entered it for the first time on April 25th, 2005. In fact, this is the astonishing 868th week that the lefty is ranked in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings.
Nadal is currently ranked World No. 4 and will play at this week's Italian Open. He is looking to return to winning ways after losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinal of the Madrid Open.