GLOBAL CHICK GETS HER HEAD AROUND THE TENNIS RANKINGS AFTER ROLAND GARROS, RAFA NADAL IS NOW NUMBER 10

Written by: Global Chick on 8th June 2015

GLOBAL CHICK GETS HER HEAD AROUND THE TENNIS RANKINGS AFTER ROLAND GARROS, RAFA NADAL IS NOW NUMBER 10

epa04789427 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal attends a press conference at the ATPÂ tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, 08 June 2015. EPA/MARIJANÂ MURAT |

Global Chick gets her head around the rankings after Roland Garros

Rankings Review & Recap 8 June

The sun is shining, the grass is covered in dew and it’s time for us to just take a breath and think about the last two weeks on the vibrant clay of Paris.

The week after a Slam can sometimes be a lull, as the top players take a chance to recoup a little after the stresses and strains of dealing with the clay, but the grass season is already upon us and there is barely enough time to whizz the lawn-mower out before we are downloading our draw brackets once more, much less queueing for Pimms and strawberries. Then again we are British and we love queueing so maybe it’s not as much of a chore as we’d think!

So without any further ado, let’s see who were the movers and shakers over the past two weeks!

ATP Rankings 8 June

No matter how we would like to dress it up in any other way, the narrative centred around two players – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic seeking his first French Open title, and nine-time and defending champion Rafael Nadal, in search of ‘La Decima.’

Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Rafael Nadal of Spain during their quarterfinal match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 03 June 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Djokovic and Nadal clashed in an eagerly anticipated quarter-final that resulted in a competitive first set before fizzling out to a straight forward three sets win, but in the bottom half of the draw there was a different story emerging. Before the tournament, Stan Wawrinka made his feelings about a very poor article focussing more on his private life known, and stated that this fortnight it should be about his tennis. He overcame Roger Federer for the first time in a Slam, and we all looked forward to potential five-set epic between him and Djokovic. As it turned out, he only needed four as he picked up his second Slam title in four years, and hustled himself back into the Top 4, at least now backing up the suggestion that the Big Four ought to be extended to the Slightly Larger Five?

But it’s not all about who climbed this week’s ranking ladder – Nadal lost his championship points and has dropped to No. 10 as his ranking continued to traverse downwards to his lowest position since April 2005.

He is in action this week in Stuttgart, which has been changed to a grass court tournament this year with the extension of the season, and is on the slate for Queen’s Club.

1. Novak Djokovic

2. Roger Federer

3. Andy Murray

4. Stan Wawrinka (+5)

5. Kei Nishikori

6. Tomas Berdych (-2)

7. David Ferrer (+1)

8. Milos Raonic (-2)

9. Marin Cilic (+1)

10. Rafael Nadal (-3)

11. Grigor Dimitrov

12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (+3)

13. Gilles Simon

14. Feliciano Lopez (-2)

15. David Goffin (+3)

16. Gael Monfils (-2)

17. Kevin Anderson

18. John Isner (-2)

19. Richard Gasquet (+2)

20. Tommy Robredo (-1)

WTA Rankings 8 June

The women’s side of the draw was maybe a little more open than the men this year with the stage set for maybe someone other than Maria Sharapova or Serena Williams to wrap up the title for the first time in three years.

Both had less than perfect lead-ups this year to Roland Garros. Defending champion Sharapova was nursing an injury that crumbled her three-time Stuttgart defence, with her only hitting her peak in Rome where she won the title, before losing to finalist Lucie Safarova in the fourth round, after coughing and hacking her way through most of the first week of Roland Garros.

Williams struggled with an elbow injury in Madrid and withdraw in Rome with the same and as if that was not enough, she too was hit with flu-like symptoms and while most of us would make friends with our duvets and a year’s supply of Lemsip, Williams managed to prevail in three tough sets against Time Bacsinszky to book her place in the final.

Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic in action against Garbine Muguruza of Spain during their quarterfinal match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 02 June 2015. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

But for us the story was all about Lucie Safarova. After making her first Slam semi-final last year, this consistent and charming Czech proved that doubles was not her only forte as she ploughed through some of the best players to make her first Slam final. Let’s not beat about the bush – she put paid to defending champion Sharapova, and then dashed 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic’s hopes of a second Slam before battling back in a great final to make Williams earn her 20th Slam.

Safarova earns herself a place in the Top 10 for the first time in her career and this tricky leftie could well go on to bigger and better things on the grass. But let’s also give Timea Bacsinszky a shout out – her singles breakthrough this year saw her leap a staggering nine places up the rankings with her run to the semi-finals with a career high.

Ah yes – 20 Slams and still going. Williams is actually three-quarters of a way to a ‘Serena-Slam’ and half way to a Grand Slam in 2015. Is she unstoppable? Well many have tried and she has been pushed to three sets by some of the very best, and surely the day will come. But she has a chance to win her fourth successive Slam and really should go into her title defence in New York as the favourite. After all if you can’t get past her when she’s struggling with her health, when can you?!

Williams is back in action at Wimbledon.

1. Serena Williams

2. Petra Kvitova (+2)

3. Simona Halep

4. Maria Sharapova (-2)

5. Caroline Wozniacki

6. Ana Ivanovic (+1)

7. Lucie Safarova (+6)

8. Ekaterina Makarova (+1)

9. Carla Suarez Navarro (-1)

10. Angelique Kerber (+1)

11. Eugenie Bouchard (-5)

12. Karolina Pliskova

13. Agnieszka Radwanska (+1)

14. Andrea Petkovic (-4)

15. Timea Bacsinszky (+9)

16. Venus Williams (-1)

17. Elina Svitolina (+4)

18. Madison Keys (-2)

19. Sabine Lisicki

20. Sara Errani (-3)

Topics: Atp, French Open, global chick, Lucie Safarova, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, RG15, Roland Garros, Serena Williams, Sports, tennis rankings, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

June 8, 2015 at 11:21 am

GLOBAL CHICK GETS HER HEAD AROUND THE #TENNIS RANKINGS AFTER @rolandgarros, @RafaelNadal IS NOW NUMBER 10- http://t.co/fkMtOdmRWm #RG15