Rafael Nadal jumping up the ATP tennis rankings seems like nothing new – until you remember that he’s retired.
The Spanish sporting icon has rather bizarrely moved up three places to 173rd after the men’s list was updated following the Australian Open.
Nadal retired in November at the age of 38 following the Davis Cup, but he remains on the ATP’s list until July.
That’s because of the points he earned in 2024 which stay beside his name for a year.
The 38-year-old earned 25 points at the Barcelona Open, 100 at the Madrid Open, 30 at the Rome Masters and ten at the French Open.
His final points before retiring then came at the Swedish Open in Bastad where he earned 165 points for making the final.
With that appearance taking place in July, he’ll remain on the list until then.
It means that Nadal will incredibly remain in the ATP rankings for 24 consecutive years.
Of course, there’s another aspect at play which has helped him move up from 176th to 173rd – poor performances from those around him.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Hugo Grenier, Shintaro Mochizuki and Seongchen Hong have all lost points during the year and with movement elsewhere, his net gain ends up at three positions.
Widely considered to be Spain’s greatest-ever athlete, Nadal retired in November with 22 Grand Slam wins to his name, the second-most of any player in history.
He said goodbye with a Davis Cup final defeat to the Netherlands, playing alongside Spain’s great new hope, four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.
Injuries plagued the end of his career, but he mounted a comeback for one last tilt at the 2024 French Open where he’s the greatest of all time with 14 wins – 11 more than any other man.
Yet he said goodbye early at the first round having been given the tough task of eventual finalist Alexander Zverev, who beat him in straight sets.
The German would go on to lose that final to Alcaraz, and he then began 2025 with the same heartbreak – losing to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final.
That leaves Zverev without a Slam to his name, but he does stay second in the ATP rankings behind Sinner who won the US Open and Australian Open last year.
Alcaraz remains in third, with Taylor Fritz in fourth and Danill Medvedev dropping from fifth to seventh behind Casper Ruud and Novak Djokovic.
When it comes to British hopefuls, Jack Draper moved up two spots to a nation-leading 16th thanks to a fourth-round appearance Down Under.
