Alcaraz joins the illustrious list made up of Carlos Moyá, Ferrero, Nadal, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez
When John McEnroe presented him with the US Open silver cup, he gifted him not only his first Grand Slam, but also the title that accredits him as number one in the world. An award that places him as the youngest in history to achieve it, surpassing the figure of Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who achieved it in November 2001, after winning the Masters Cup at the age of 20 years, eight months and 23 days. Alcaraz reached it with 19 years, 4 months and 7 days.
This Monday, the man from El Palmar leads the ATP ranking with 6,740 points, 890 more than Casper Ruud, his victim in the US Open final, and 930 more than Rafael Nadal, who fell to Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals. The distance is comfortable for Alcaraz and enough to position him as the best tennis player in the world and break a record once held by myths such as McEnroe himself (1980), Bjorn Borg (1977) and Marat Safin (2000).
Since the introduction of the ATP ranking in 1973, with Romanian Ilie Nastase as the world’s first number one, up to three Spaniards have climbed to the top of the ranking. The first of these was Carlos Moyá, on March 15, 1999. Nadal’s current coach got it less than a year after winning his only Grand Slam, Roland Garros 1998, and just after reaching the final of the Miami Masters losing to Mark Philippoussis. He replaced Pete Sampras at the top of the ATP, but the American regained control just two weeks later. Moyá never returned to the top of the rankings and Spanish tennis had to wait until 2003 to return to another compatriot to lead this sport.
It was on September 8 when Juan Carlos Ferrero, after losing the US Open final to Andy Roddick in three sets, was named world number one. On a bittersweet note, for the missed opportunity to be the third Spaniard to succeed in New York, after Manolo Santana and Manolo Orantes, Ferrero held an honor that lasted eight weeks, until Roddick climbed to first place and became the last number one. . the dominance of Nadal-Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic.
Five years passed until Nadal’s ‘sorpasso’ in the Swiss rankings. On August 18, 2008, after the Olympics and after Nadal won at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, the Spaniard finally ended three years in Federer’s shadow. He took him out of a first-place finish which he held for 237 consecutive weeks (historic record) and held the top spot until July 5, 2009, when injuries prevented him from defending the title at Wimbledon and he lost the lead.
Nadal, who has held the top position in the ATP for 209 weeks (the sixth in history), has finished first seven more times in his career, the last from November 2019 to February 2020.
Adding to the men’s numbers are Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Garbiñe Muguruza, the only two Spaniards to lead the WTA, as Conchita Martínez had to settle for second best. Sánchez Vicario first reached number one on February 6, 1995, holding it for a total of eight weeks between February and June of that year. Muguruza’s reign was shorter, lasting just four weeks between September and October 2017.
Alcaraz became the sixth Spaniard to do so at this US Open and the youngest of them all. Now the task begins to defend him in the following events, with the European “indoor” tour, that is, Basel and the Masters 1,000 in Paris and the last event of the Masters Cup, in which Alcaraz made his presence for the first time guaranteed in his career.
Source: La Verdad
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