Huge blow for Rafa Nadal in staggering 15-year rankings first

Russian Daniil Medvedev will break the Big Four's 15-year stranglehold on the Top 2 rankings as he is set to usurp Rafael Nadal this month.

After Medvedev's charge into the Australian Open final, and his strong end to the 2020 season, the 25-year-old is set to overtake World No.2 Nadal next Monday.

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He will sit behind Novak Djokovic who will also set a record as the ATP player with the most weeks as World No.1.

At least two of the Big Four - Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray - have occupied the Top 2 ranking spots since July 25, 2005.

"With the release of next week's @atptour draws, @DaniilMedwed is confirmed to become World No. 2 on 15 March," the ATP tweeted.

"Medvedev will be the 1st player in the Top 2 since 25 July 2005 other than the Big 4 of @DjokerNole, @RafaelNadal, @rogerfederer and @andy_murray."

The Russian is currently on 9,735 points, 115 points behind Nadal, and he has a first-round bye at the Open 13 Marseille tournament next week.

Shock loss for Medvedev

Medvedev would have taken the World No.2 spot this week if he had made the final at the Rotterdam Open.

But the Russian suffered a shock loss to Dusan Lajovic in the First Round.

The World No.3 was the top seed for this week's tournament following his run to the Australian Open final, but was dumped out 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in just over 90 minutes.

Medvedev smashed his racquet after being broken in the ninth game of the second set, having a row with the umpire and starting the final game with a point penalty as a result.

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