ATP Rankings: Rafael Nadal leads Roger Federer by 100 points; Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka suffer massive slides

Having successfully defended his French Open title, Rafael Nadal began his 177th week at the top position as the latest ATP World Rankings got released on Monday, June 11, 2018. With 8770 points, he remains just 100 points ahead of his biggest nemesis, Roger Federer.

The Swiss, who returns to action this week at the Mercedes Cup, has a chance to wrest away the numero uno ranking from the Spaniard, though. With a run to the final at the ATP Stuttgart, he can climb back to the pinnacle in a season, that has seen the No. 1 ranking shuffling between the two legends quite a few times already.

While the French Open quarter-finalist Alexander Zverev maintains his third spot, Juan Martin del Potro, a semi-finalist in Paris, climbed a couple of places to reach the fourth position for the first time since February, 2014.

Roland Garros runner-up Dominic Thiem also improved his ranking by a solitary rung, finding himself in the seventh spot.

Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov and Kevin Anderson all dropped one spot each to fifth, sixth and eighth respectively. David Goffin and John Isner round off the top 10.

Murray and Wawrinka nosedive

But the biggest news from the ATP Rankings was the massive fall of multiple Grand Slam champions Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka. The three-time Major winners, both of whom have been hit by injury in recent times, were ranked in the top three a year earlier after Wawrinka reached the 2017 French Open final and Murray made it to the semi-finals.

While Murray was the No. 1, the Swiss was at 3rd. A year later, Murray has plummeted 110 spots to 157th and Wawrinka has gone down by a huge 233 places to 263rd.

The latter would now have to depend on wildcards in the big tournaments as his lowly ranking wouldn’t be enough to secure him a chance to play even the qualifying rounds.

Murray, recovering from a hip surgery, is targeting a return on the lush green lawns of Wimbledon, where he has triumphed twice. The Briton is still in the player field at the Fever Tree Championships, formerly known as the Queen’s Club Championships, that begins June 18.

Wawrinka, who has had to deal with a double knee surgery, has been playing intermittently in the 2018 season as he aims to get back into top gear. He lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in five sets in the first round at the claycourt Major, that sent his ranking tumbling.

Big jump for Stephens

On the women’s side, newly-crowned French Open champion Simona Halep continues to lead the pack. The Romanian is followed by Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza.

Roland Garros runner-up Sloane Stephens is the biggest mover in the top 10, jumping six places to a career-high fourth. Madison Keys, whom Stephens beat in the semi-finals, also soared three spots to 10th.