Nadal, in Cincinnati can give the assault on number 1

A little more than five weeks after the sad Wimbledon press conference in which Rafael Nadal announced his retirement from the Championships before the expected semifinal with Nick Kyrgios, the Spaniard returns to the limelight by presenting himself at the start of the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati with the greedy and real opportunity to become number 1 in the world. The only possible combination that would allow Rafael Nadal to go back to watching all the players from top to bottom is to win Cincinnati and hope that the current number 1, Daniil Medvedev, leaves the scene before the quarter-finals.

Complicated mission

–

In substance, however, the company appears very complicated: Rafa has played the Cincinnati tournament 12 times (this is the thirteenth) winning the title only in 2013 when he overtook John Isner in the final with a double tie-break. For the rest he has never been able to do better than 2 semi-finals and 4 quarter-finals. The path to the final includes a second round against one between Lorenzo Musetti or Borna Coric, a third round against Roberto Bautista Agut, a quarter-final against one between Felix Auger-Aliassime, Pablo Carreno or Jannik Sinner and a semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz or Casper Ruud.

Medvedev’s way

–

In the upper part of the scoreboard, instead, there is Daniil Medvedev who, in order to miss the finish line of the quarter-finals, should lose in the second round against Botic Van de Zandschulp, or in the third against one between Tommy Paul, Jenson Brooksy, Denis Shapovalov or Grigor Dimitrov. Rafael Nadal was world number 1 for the last time on Sunday 2 February 2020, when the scepter passed back into the hands of Novak Djokovic, who won the Australian Open by recovering two sets to one from Dominic in the final. Thiem. Rafa was king for eight kingdoms: the first from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009, then from 7 July 2010 to 3 July 2011, from 7 October 2013 to 6 June 2014, from 21 August 2017 to 18 February 2018, from 2 April to 13 May 2018, from 21 May to 17 June 2018, from 25 June to 4 November 2018 and finally from 4 November 2019 to 2 February 2020.

The kingdoms of Sampras

–

To find a player who has regained the top several times you have to go back to Pete Sampras who in 2000 signed his eleventh and last reign (the absolute record is of John McEnroe, king in 14 distinct periods). For the number of weeks at the top, Rafa is, with 209 weeks, the sixth ever behind Djokovic 373, Federer 310, Sampras 286, Lendl 270 and Connors 268. Rafa would return to world number 1 at 36 years and 2 months, to just 8 months after the record of the ATP that belongs to Roger Federer, world number 1, in June 2018, at 36 years and 10 months.