Nadal drops to 13th ATP

Nadal lost 600 points from last year's Indian Wells final, ending a record 912 consecutive weeks in the top 10 ATP, with a total of 6,538 days, starting April 25, 2005. With Cameron Norrie and Jannik Sinner reaching the quarter-finals and semi-finals at Indian Wells this year, respectively, Nadal dropped four places to 13th in the world.

Being outside the top 10 makes Nadal not exempt from the first round and facing the risk of soon having to face strong opponents in major tournaments, firstly the Monte Carlo Masters in early April. This means that for the first time in 16 years, Nadal will have to play six matches in Monte Carlo if he wants to reach the final. If the rankings are not improved, Nadal may have to face Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz right from the fourth round of Roland Garros.

Of Nadal's 2,715 points currently, the 2,270 he earned from last year's European clay season. In 2022, he won the 14th Roland Garros championship, reached the semi-finals in Madrid, the quarterfinals in Rome but missed two tournaments in Monte Carlo and Barcelona due to injury. Monte Carlo 2023 is an opportunity for Nadal to improve his score and rank, but then he will have to defend a lot of points in Rome, Madrid and Roland Garros.

On March 20, Nadal also congratulated Alcaraz with his first victory at Indian Wells and returning to number one in the world. On the social network Instagram, Alcaraz also thanked his compatriot.

On the scoreboard, Nadal is only five points ahead of world number 14 Frances Tiafoe. In the top 10, Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced the most, rising four places to 6th. Novak Djokovic ranked second, 640 points behind Alcaraz. The Serbian will return to world number one if Alcaraz fails to win the Miami Open - the Masters 1000 tournament taking place in the next two weeks.