Spain’s Rafael Nadal has moved to within touching distance of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in the battle for the world No.1 tennis ranking after his US Open triumph in New York.
Nadal remains second in the standings published by the ATP on Monday but is now just 640 points off Djokovic’s best tally of 9,865.
While Nadal won his 19th major on Sunday (Monday AEST), defending champion Djokovic exited Flushing Meadows injured in the quarter-finals.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev moved up a spot to fourth after making his maiden grand slam final while Italy’s Matteo Berrettini surged 12 places to 13th after a run to the last four.
ATP top 10 as of September 9 (previous ranking in parenthesis):
1. (1) Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 9,865 points
2. (2) Rafael Nadal, Spain, 9,225
3. (3) Roger Federer, Switzerland, 7,130
4. (5) Daniil Medvedev, Russia, 5,235
5. (4) Dominic Thiem, Austria, 4,575
6. (6) Alexander Zverev, Germany, 4,095
7. (8) Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greece, 3,420
8. (7) Kei Nishikori, Japan, 3,375
9. (9) Karen Khachanov, Russia, 2,810
10.(10) Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain, 2,575