Rafa Reigns Supreme

Your Weekly Tennis Update

Peter Parks AFP/Getty Images

By Mason Walling

It is believed that the phrase “all good things must come to an end,” was first said by Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English literature, in 1374.

For Novak Djokovic, 101 weeks’ worth of “good things” came to an end on Monday as he lost his world number-one ranking at the hands of Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic hovered at the top of the rankings since July of 2011, except for a four-month span where he was overtaken by Roger Federer.  He is the ninth player to hold the number-one ranking for 100 total weeks.

Djokovic did, however, impose some revenge on the newly crowned world number-one by beating Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to win the China Open in Beijing.  Fortunately for Nadal, he was close enough behind Djokovic in the ranking that he would earn enough points to pass him by reaching the finals.  Djokovic has won the China Open title four out of the last five years. 

This loss was Nadal’s first on a hard court all season.  He boasts a 65-4 record in 2013, and he has already amassed 10 singles titles, including this year’s French Open and U.S. Open Championships. 

Both men are currently competing at the Shanghai Masters tournament and have advanced to the third round.  If Nadal takes the title in Shanghai, he will become the first man to ever win six Master’s 1000 events in a single season.  Next up, Djokovic will take on Fabio Fognini of Italy, and Nadal will battle Carlos Berlocq of Argentina. 

On the women’s side, Serena Williams won the China Open and remained the world’s undisputed number-one by defeating Jelena Jankovic by a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Williams is not participating in the WTA events that are currently underway in Linz, Austria, and in Osaka, Japan.  Those still competing in Japan include American Madison Keys, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and Australian Samantha Stosur.  The top contenders in Austria are Angelique Kerber, Ana Ivanovic, Sloane Stephens, Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suarez-Navarro and Kristen Flipkens.