Stat of the Day: Rafael Nadal goes from No. 5 in danger to closing in on No. 4 again

It was only a few days ago that Rafael Nadal was in danger of losing his spot in the Top 5—if Matteo Berrettini had beaten him in the semifinals of the Australian Open, Berrettini would have climbed to No. 5, bumping Nadal down to No. 6.

But not only did Nadal beat the Italian in that semifinal match, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, he went on to win an historic final against Daniil Medvedev, 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5, to capture the record-breaking 21st career Grand Slam title of his career.

With that win, Nadal goes from a No. 5 in danger to nipping at the heels of No. 4.

Going into the Australian Open, Nadal was 1,665 points behind No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, and just 90 points ahead of No. 6 Andrey Rublev.

Now, Nadal has made just about as big of a move on the rankings as possible without actually moving up a spot—he’s now just 295 points behind No. 4 Tsitsipas, and has a 1,597-point cushion ahead of No. 6, which is now Berrettini.

He has less than 1,000 points to defend over the next two and a half months, too.

ATP TOP 10 DURING AUSTRALIAN OPEN (January 17th, 2022 rankings)
1. Novak Djokovic (11,015)
2. Daniil Medvedev (8,935)
3. Alexander Zverev (7,970)
4. Stefanos Tsitsipas (6,540)
5. Rafael Nadal (4,875) [1,665 points behind No. 4; only 90-point lead over No. 6]
6. Andrey Rublev (4,785)
7. Matteo Berrettini (4,568)
8. Casper Ruud (4,155)
9. Felix Auger-Aliassime (3,608)
10. Jannik Sinner (3,390)

ATP TOP 10 AFTER AUSTRALIAN OPEN (January 31st, 2022 rankings)
1. Novak Djokovic (11,015)
2. Daniil Medvedev (10,125)
3. Alexander Zverev (7,780)
4. Stefanos Tsitsipas (7,170)
5. Rafael Nadal (6,875) [only 295 points behind No. 4; 1,597-point lead over No. 6]
6. Matteo Berrettini (5,278)
7. Andrey Rublev (4,830)
8. Casper Ruud (4,065)
9. Felix Auger-Aliassime (3,923)
10. Jannik Sinner (3,705)