Alexander Zverev has moved past Rafael Nadal into fourth spot on latest ATP Tour rankings.
This follows the 24-year-old German’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Russia’s Andrey Rublev in the Cincinnati Masters final.
Nadal has shut down his 2021 season due to a persistent foot injury and his ranking will dip even more as the year winds down.
It’s known that the Spaniard has struggled with Müller-Weiss Syndrome. The condition had flared up in his French Open semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic in June and subsequently saw him miss Wimbledon.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion played the Washington ATP 500-level event earlier this month but lost his second match there to South Africa’s Lloyd Harris.
Nadal then pulled out of the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters 1000 events before calling it quits for the remainder of the year.
Zverev, who recently won the Gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, boasts a career-high ranking of No 3 – achieved in November 2017.
Meanwhile Roger Federer, who is also out for the rest of the year with a knee injury, remains at No 9 in the rankings, while Novak Djokovic leads the pack.
ATP rankings:
1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 11,113 pts
2. Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 9,980
3. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 8,350
4. Alexander Zverev (GER) 8,240 (+1)
5. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 7,815 (-1)
6. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6,995
7. Andrey Rublev (RUS) 6,400
8. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 5,533
9. Roger Federer (SUI) 4,125
10. Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 3,580
11. Casper Ruud (NOR) 3,455
12. Pablo Carreo (ESP) 3,325 (+1)
13. Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 3,128 (-1)
14. Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 2,980
15. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 2,828 (+2)
16. Jannik Sinner (ITA) 2,750 (-1)
17. Alex De Minaur (AUS) 2,555 (+1)
18. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 2,511 (+3)
19. Christian Garin (CHI) 2,510 (+1)
20. Gael Monfils (FRA) 2,503 (+2)
Picture: Alexander Zverev – Western & Southern Open/Twitter
tennisopinionworldwide.wordpress.com 