Andy Murray Overtakes Rafael Nadal In The Latest ATP World Rankings

Andy Murray has overtaken Rafael Nadal in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals, or ATP, world rankings after the Spaniard failed to defend his title at the 2015 Rio Open. Murray is now 35 points ahead of Nadal based on the stats released by ATP on Feb. 23.

Murray broke into ATP’s top 10 on April 8, 2007. He first reached the World No. 3 spot on May 11, 2009. It was the highest-ever ranking that a British male tennis player has achieved during the Open Era. Fellow British Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski have only made it to the fourth spot in the ATP world rankings during their active tennis careers. Murray reached his career-high singles ranking at World No. 2 on Aug. 17, 2009.

Murray is 8-2 (win-loss) this season. He reached the quarterfinals in Rotterdam and made his fourth appearance in the Australian Open. His current tournament is the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where he is slated to square off with Gilles Muller in the first round. Murray has a 2-0 head-to-head record against Muller.

Meanwhile, Nadal’s semifinal defeat to Italian Fabio Fognini at the 2015 Rio Open led to the Spaniard’s descent to the fourth spot of the ATP world rankings, swapping places with the 2013 Wimbledon champion. This is the first time that Nadal has ranked outside the top three since August 2013.

The 2015 season hasn’t been so good for the former World No. 1. Nadal suffered a first round exit at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, then he lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Now Nadal has been beaten on his favourite clay surface.

Seven other players including Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have retained their spots in the recently released ATP world rankings. Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov and reigning U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic also traded places. Cilic lost his 10th spot to Dimitrov. Australia’s Bernard Tomic moved up four notches to the number 42 spot after his making it in the semifinals of the ATP tournament in Delray Beach, Florida.

Top 20 ATP World Rankings as of Feb. 23, 2015 (Points)

1. Novak Djokovic (13,045)

2. Roger Federer (9,205)

3. Andy Murray (5,460)

4. Rafael Nadal (5,425)

5. Kei Nishikori (5,205)

6. Milos Raonic (4,980)

7. Stan Wawrinka (4,595)

8. Tomas Berdych (4,460)

9. David Ferrer (4,185)

10. Grigor Dimitrov (3,465)

11. Marin Cilic (3,450)