Russia's Daniil Medvedev Pushes Nadal to No. 3 in ATP Rankings

Russia's Daniil Medvedev has pushed Spain's Rafael Nadal to No. 3 in ATP rankings, putting the tennis great in danger of not getting a top-2 seeding at the French Open, which is barely three weeks away.

If the Russian -- who spent 10 days in bed recovering from Covid-19 before the Madrid Open -- holds on to the No. 2 ranking until the seedings are made in two weeks' time, Nadal would be the No. 3 seed in Paris and potentially on the same half of the draw as No. 1 Novak Djokovic, according to tennis.com.

Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev Wikimedia Commons

However, Nadal has a good chance of wresting back the No. 2 position from Medvedev in the coming two weeks as another Masters 1000 tournament -- the Italian Open -- has kicked off in Rome, where the Spaniard is a nine-time champion and slated to play.

Besides, Nadal can even enter an ATP 250s tournament in either Geneva or Lyon next week.

Rafael Nadal
Nadal faces tricky semi-final test on Friday Reuters

It was a forgettable past week for both Medvedev and Nadal. They lost before the semi-final stage of the Madrid Open.

While the Russian lost in the third round to Cristian Garin, Nadal was beaten in the quarter-finals by the eventual winner, Germany's Alexander Zverev.

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