Murray wins Rogers Cup, moves Nadal to No.3 spot in world ranking

by Yuliya Talmazan | August 16, 2009 at 03:39 pm

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Surprising losses by Federer and Nadal at the 2009 Rogers Cup in Montreal cause some re-shuffling in the top 3 men's world ranking.

As of Monday, August 17, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal will lose his No. 2 world ranking to Britain’s Andy Murray. In a surprising match at the 2009 Roger's Cup on Saturday, Nadal lost to Argentina's Juan Del Potro. Murray, meanwhile, defeated France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Saturday, moving up ahead of Nadal in world's rankings. Murray met with Del Potro in the finals on Sunday to win the 2009 Rogers Cup. It was an unusual high-profile tennis final in that not only Federer and Nadal were missing on the court, but the players' mean age was 21. So, was the 2009 Roger's Cup final a statement in the world of tennis?

As of August 2009, Roger Federer is still No. 1 in the world player rankings, despite losing in the quarter-finals of the Roger’s Cup to France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Andy Murray is now getting used to being second best male tennis player in the world, while Rafael Nadal rests in the uncomfortable third. Nadal occupied number one spot since August 2008. He was bumped into No. 2 position in July of 2009 by Roger Federer. The second half of Nadal's 2009 season was marred by injuries - a knee injury caused Nadal to pull out from the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. Roger Federer’s victory at this year's Wimbledon was what caused Nadal to lose his No.1 spot. Now, with the No. 2 world ranking torn away from Nadal, Murray embedded himself firmly in the top group. Should he win the 2009 US Open staring August 31 in New York City, Murray might even dismantle Roger Federer from his No. 1 spot.

“It’s tough thing to do, because Roger and Rafa are the two best maybe of all time,” Murray said. “So yeah, it’s pretty special to get between them.”

Until now, it has almost always come down to the struggle of the two titans – Federer and Nadal, but now that Andy Murray managed to squeeze himself into the elite top, it will be interesting to see how much re-shuffling there will be in the upcoming seasons between the three of the top men.