It took Rafael Nadal longer to win his first title in 2019 than he did in any season since 2004, the year he earned his maiden tour-level crown. But the World No. 2 has now captured two crowns in a row after lifting his 12th Roland Garros trophy on Sunday, putting plenty of pressure on Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the race for the most Big Titles, a combination of Grand Slam, Nitto ATP Finals and ATP Masters 1000 crowns.

Nadal, whose Paris victory earned him his 52nd Big Title, is now just one Big Title from tying Djokovic in second place (53) and two from record-holder Federer (54). But by winning Roland Garros, he has matched Djokovic’s Big Titles winning rate by capturing one trophy per 3.4 events played. However, since they have both played 179 combined Grand Slams, Nitto ATP Finals and ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, and Djokovic has won 53 titles to Nadal’s 52, the World No. 1 has a slightly better conversion ratio.

Nadal, who with 18 Grand Slam victories is now also within just two majors off Federer’s record, can make the Big Titles competition even juicier if he is to win his third Wimbledon title and first since 2010.

With his record-extending Roland Garros victory, Nadal has now captured multiple Big Titles in a season 13 times in his career. If the 33-year-old wins another Big Title this year, it will be the 11th time he has lifted at least three of those trophies in a season.

All eyes will also be on Nadal’s pursuit of Federer’s 20-Grand Slam mark. If the two-time Wimbledon champion triumphs again on the London grass, he will be within one major title of the Swiss for the first time. 

“It’s a motivation, but it’s not my obsession. If you ask me whether I would like it, of course. If that’s a goal in my career, no. It’s not what makes me get up every morning or go and train and play. It’s not the way in which I view the sport, and it’s not the way in which I consider my sports career,” Nadal said. “I want to follow my own journey, give myself the best opportunities, and give myself the possibility of competing at the highest level. And if I end up in a position like that of today where I’m the one who won the most Roland Garros [titles] in history, all very well.

“But I don’t think my future will be worth any more if I equal Federer’s record or if I do something like Djokovic or whatever. I consider that I’m going much further than I dreamt about in my career.”

Current and Former Champions’ Big Titles Won (Records Since 1990)

* Becker’s four other Grand Slam titles came before 1990.
** Edberg’s three other Grand Slam titles came before 1990.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is on course to qualify for the first time to the Nitto ATP Finals, six months on from capturing the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals title in Milan.

The charismatic Greek sits in fifth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London on 2,940 points, behind established stars: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem, in the quest to qualify for the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. He has a 1,230 points lead over sixth-placed Kei Nishikori.

Twelve months ago, Tsitsipas was in 25th position in the 2018 Race with a 20-15 match record. But six months into the 2019 season and the 20-year-old has compiled a 32-12 match record after becoming the youngest Australian Open semi-finalist since Andy Roddick (also 20) in 2003, and capturing two ATP Tour titles at the Open 13 Provence (d. Kukushkin) and the Millennium Estoril Open (d. Cuevas). Last week, Tsitsipas advanced to the Roland Garros fourth round for the first time .

Nadal, Djokovic and Federer hold down the Top 3 spots in the 2019 ATP Race To London for the first time since 2012 (and the fourth time overall, also 2009-10, ’12), while the Top 5 contenders for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals are also all separating themselves from the chasing pack.

Nadal has taken the lead in the 2019 ATP Race To London, supplanting Djokovic in top spot as a result of a strong end to the spring European clay-court swing. The Spaniard, who beat Djokovic for a ninth Internazionali BNL d’Italia title on 19 May, overcame Thiem on Sunday for an incredible 12th Roland Garros trophy and now has 5,505 points in the year-to-date standings.

Nadal, who trailed Djokovic by 900 points — 2,505 to 3,405 — prior to the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome, is now 780 points ahead following his historic win in Paris. The 33-year-old Nadal is attempting to qualify for the season finale for a 15th straight year (since 2005), while 32-year-old Djokovic, a five-time former titlist, bids to qualify for a 12th time (2007-2016, 2018).

View Latest ATP Race To London Standings (as of 10 June 2019)

Federer, a six-time champion at the season finale, competed on clay for the first time since 2016 and has 3,360 points, 55 points ahead of Dominic Thiem (3,305), the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell titlist and also Roland Garros runner-up. Tsitsipas trails Thiem by 365 points.

The Top 5 are setting the pace in the bid to qualify and fifth-placed Tsitsipas has a big lead over sixth-placed Nishikori, a two-spot riser after reaching the quarter-finals at the clay-court major championship. Russia’s Danill Medvedev (1,585), who has a 25-11 match record in 2019, is in seventh position, and Italy’s Fabio Fognini (1,550), victor at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters — his first ATP Masters 1000 crown — in April, sits in eighth, which is the final automatic qualification spot. Like Tsitsipas, both Medvedev and Fognini are attempting to qualify for the elite event for the first time.

Last year’s Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev, who advanced to the Roland Garros quarter-finals for the second consecutive year, has moved up one place to ninth on 1,490 points, just 60 points behind Fognini.

France’s Gael Monfils (1,320), who lifted the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament trophy in February, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut (1,215) and Stan Wawrinka (1,130) make up the Top 12 in the year-to-date standings midway through 2019. Swiss Stan Wawrinka, a four-time Nitto ATP Finals qualifier (2013-16), is bouncing back from two knee surgeries in August 2017 and lost to Federer in an entertaining Roland Garros quarter-final. In the latest ATP Race To London standings, Wawrinka has soared 12 spots to 12th position, on 1,130 points.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got off to a winning start on his MercedesCup debut on Monday, powering past 2017 semi-finalist Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-0 in 57 minutes. Tsonga, who won nine straight games from 3-3 in the first set, lost just four of his first-service points and hit 13 aces.

“It’s never easy to play your first match on grass, especially against Mischa, who is a good server,” said Tsonga, who was playing his first match on grass for two years. “With the year I’ve had last year, I just want to play and do my best during the grass swing. There is no special goal.”

Tsonga is now 18-9 on the season, which includes his 17th ATP Tour title at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier (d. Herbert). He awaits the winner of sixth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic, the 2018 runner-up, and Alexei Popyrin, an Australian qualifier.

Elsewhere, 19-year-old Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic edged past 2013 and 2016 finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes. Kohlschreiber finished as runner-up to Fabio Fognini, when the event was played on clay in 2013, and to Dominic Thiem in 2016 on grass. Kercmanovic now plays sixth-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov or another German, Jan-Lennard Struff, who play later today.

No. 9 (Career High) Karen Khachanov, +2
The 23-year-old advanced to his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros after beating Juan Martin del Potro in four sets in the fourth round. Having entered the Round of 16 clash against Del Potro with an 0-3 record in Grand Slam fourth-round matches, Khachanov backed up wins over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Gregoire Barrere and Martin Klizan to reach the last eight.

Despite falling to eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals, Khachanov becomes the first Russian since Mikhail Youzhny in February 2011 to occupy a spot in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings. The Moscow-born star rises two positions to a career-high at No. 9.

No. 10 (Career High) Fabio Fognini, +2
At the conclusion of a European clay-court swing which began with a first ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Lajovic), Fognini will enter the grass-court season as a Top 10 player. The Italian claimed three straight four-set wins at Roland Garros, which included a victory against Australian Open quarter-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut, before losing to Alexander Zverev in the Round of 16. Like Khachanov, Fognini also jumps two spots to a new career-high ATP Ranking, at No. 10.

No. 19 Stan Wawrinka, +9
Former champion Wawrinka reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final in two years at Roland Garros. The Swiss, who is rebuilding his ATP Ranking following two knee surgeries in August 2017, defeated in-form Chilean Cristian Garin, former World No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov and World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the last eight. After a four-set loss to Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, the three-time Grand Slam champion leaps nine places to No. 19 in the ATP Rankings. This is the first time that Wawrinka has held a position in the Top 20 since 18 March 2018.

No. 28 Benoit Paire, +10
After picking up titles at the Grand Prix Hassan II (d. Andujar) and Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon (d. Auger-Aliassime), Paire reached the Round of 16 at Roland Garros for the first time. The 30-year-old edged countryman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 6-2, 5-7, 6-7(6), 11-9 in a memorable second-round clash en route to the last 16, where he fell in five sets to Kei Nishikori. Paire climbs 10 spots to No. 28 in the ATP Rankings, his highest position in almost three years.

Other Notable Movers 
No. 39 Marco Cecchinato, -20
No. 48 Leonardo Mayer, +20
No. 54 Hubert Hurkacz, -10
No. 58 (Career High) Juan Ignacio Londero, +20
No. 63 Damir Dzumhur, -11
No. 70 Daniel Evans, +10
No. 74 Jaume Munar, -21
No. 78 Steve Johnson, -13
No. 82 Pablo Andujar, +11
No. 90 Ernests Gulbis, -11
No. 99 (Career High) Yannick Maden, +15

The 2019 ATP Tour grass-court season begins with ATP 250 events in Stuttgart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch this week. World No. 5 Alexander Zverev headlines a packed field at the MercedesCup, which features eight Top 25 players, while #NextGenATP Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the way at the Libema Open.

10 Things To Watch In Stuttgart

1) Sascha Surprise: One day after losing in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, World No. 5 Alexander Zverev accepted a wild card from the MercedesCup, which along with the Libema Open, kicks off the ATP Tour grass-court swing. Zverev is playing his 12th tournament in the past 12 weeks of the ATP Tour calendar, highlighted by championship match appearances in Geneva (d. Jarry) and Acapulco (l. to Kyrgios).

2) All Grown Up: Zverev played at the MercedesCup in its final year on clay (2014) and first year on grass (2015), but he’s missed the last three editions. Local fans will hardly recognize him. Now 22 years old, Zverev is a three-time ATP Masters 1000 champion and two-time Roland Garros quarter-finalist who beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic en route to the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals title.

3) Welcome to the Club: Karen Khachanov breaks into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings today at No. 9. The 23-year-old becomes the first Russian in the Top 10 since Mikhail Youzhny during the week of 7 February 2011. Khachanov reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros.

4) Not Far Behind: It’s unlikely to take another eight years for a Russian player to be among the Top 10. That’s because Khachanov’s countryman and fellow 23-year-old Daniil Medvedev is ranked a career-high No. 13. Medvedev started the season 25-7, highlighted by a win over Djokovic at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. However, Medvedev enters Stuttgart on a four-match losing streak.

5) Oh, Canada: Canadians Milos Raonic, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov are seeded sixth, seventh and eighth respectively in Stuttgart. Raonic did not play on clay due to a right knee injury, but the 28-year-old remains a major threat on grass. He’s reached grass-court finals at three different tournaments: 2016 London/Queen’s Club, 2016 Wimbledon and 2018 Stuttgart.

Read MercedesCup: All You Need To Know

6) Phenomenal Felix: After advancing to finals in Rio de Janeiro and Lyon, the 18-year-old Auger-Aliassime surpassed Rafael Nadal as the youngest player to break into the Top 25 since Lleyton Hewitt in 1999. Auger-Aliassime will play the first grass-court match of his pro career in Stuttgart. His last match at any level on grass was the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ doubles final with Shapovalov.

7) Elusive Final: Shapovalov reached three Masters 1000 semi-finals before turning 20 on 15 April. But unlike his #NextGenATP countryman Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov is still seeking his first appearance in an ATP Tour final. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if Shapovalov’s breakthrough were to come on grass. He ended his junior career as the 2016 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion.

8) Wild Thing: Like Zverev, Lucas Pouille was granted a MercedesCup wild card on Friday. Pouille is the only former champion in the field, saving a match point in his opener en route to the 2017 title. The 25-year-old Frenchman is 2-9 since defeating Raonic in the Australian Open quarter-finals.

9) Home-Court Advantage: Philipp Kohlschreiber, 35, is in the Stuttgart field for the seventh straight season, reaching finals on clay in 2013 and grass in 2016. For his career, Kohlschreiber is 125-66 with five ATP Tour titles in Germany (.654) and 339-293 with three titles elsewhere (.536).

10) Missing Title: The winningest doubles team of all-time is seeking a maiden MercedesCup title. Bob and Mike Bryan have captured a record 118 doubles titles across 35 different tournaments. But they lost semi-finals in their only previous appearances at the MercedesCup in 2016 and 2017.

10 Things To Watch In ‘s-Hertogenbosch

1) Next Gen Presence: No. 1 seed and World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas leads seven #NextGenATP players from seven different countries in the field at the Libema Open, which along with the MercedesCup, kicks off the ATP Tour grass-court swing. The 20-year-old Tsitsipas and 12-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal are tied for the most wins on Tour this season with 32.

2) One Year Later: Tsitsipas was ranked a career-high No. 37 when he reached the quarter-finals in his Libema Open debut last year. He’s achieved a career-high ranking 10 more times since then. Tsitsipas is seeking the first grass-court championship of his surging career, highlighted by three ATP 250 titles, two Masters 1000 finals and a run to the 2019 Australian Open semi-finals.

3) No. 1 Aussie: Like Tsitsipas, #NextGenATP player Alex de Minaur has shot up the ATP Rankings in the past 18 months. The 20-year-old Aussie has achieved a career-high 23 times since the start of 2018, peaking at his current position of No. 24. De Minaur is the No. 3 seed in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

4) Firsts for Foe: After winning his maiden ATP Tour title at Delray Beach in 2018, Frances Tiafoe has broken new ground this season. He reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open on his 21st birthday and his maiden Masters 1000 quarter-final in Miami two months later.

5) Rest of the Next: Joining Tsitsipas, de Minaur and Tiafoe in the Libema Open draw are 17-year-old Jannik Sinner and 20-year-old talents Ugo Humbert, Jurij Rodionov and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Humbert (Marseille) and Davidovich Fokina (Estoril) have already reached semi-finals on the ATP Tour this season.

6) Coric’s Year: Borna Coric is the No. 2 seed after taking a wild card. The Croatian has been ranked between No. 12 and No. 15 all season and is aiming to reach his first final of the year. In 2018, Coric lifted the NOVENTI OPEN title and reached his first Masters 1000 final in Shanghai (l. to Djokovic).

Read Libema Open: All You Need To Know

7) Garin on Grass: All 20 of Cristian Garin’s wins in 2019, and 28 of his 30 career wins, have come on clay. Though the No. 7 seed seeks his first tour-level grass-court victory, he’s had some success on the surface. Garin earned three victories to qualify for Wimbledon in each of the past two years.

8) Dutch Hopes: Robin Haase is playing in the Libema Open main draw for the 12th time in 14 years. He’s joined this week by Dutch wild card Thiemo de Bakker, a former World No. 40 who has spent much of 2019 on the ATP Challenger Tour. It’s been 10 years since a Dutchman reached the ’s-Hertogenbosch final (Raemon Sluiter) and 16 since a home player captured the title (Sjeng Schalken).

9) Former Finalists: Reigning champion Richard Gasquet, 2018 runner-up Jeremy Chardy and 2015 finalist David Goffin return to the Libema Open. Since defeating Chardy in an All-French final last year, Gasquet has struggled with left hip, right wrist and groin injuries. He underwent groin surgery in January and did not make his season debut until the Mutua Madrid Open last month.

10) From Paris with Love: Chardy arrives in ’s-Hertogenbosch after reaching his first Grand Slam doubles final. Alongside fellow 32-year-old Frenchman Fabrice Martin, Chardy reached the Roland Garros men’s doubles championship match (l. to Krawietz/Mies). Chardy and Martin are unseeded in the Libema Open doubles draw, which is led by No. 1 seeds and 2017 champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

Italian Fabio Fognini has made history.

On Monday, the 32-year-old World No. 10 became the oldest player to break into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 38-year-old Ken Rosewall and 35-year-old Rod Laver on 23 August 1973, when the ATP Rankings were first established. Fognini is just the third Italian man to crack the elite group, joining Adriano Panatta and Corrado Barazzutti.

“To reach the Top 10 is like the fulfilment of a dream. I see myself as a kid on a tennis court with a racquet bigger than me and I think, ‘This kid has gone a long way’,” Fognini told ATPTour.com. “Right now I am happy and I want to thank my family, my wife, my son and all the people who have always been close to me.”

Italian Men To Reach The Top 10

Of the current Top 10, Kevin Anderson was the oldest to join the group for the first time, doing so at 29. The other nine stars were 24 or younger when they accomplished the feat.

“This is another piece of the puzzle which will push me to continue to give my all to the sport I love,” Fognini said. 

Joining Fognini as a first-time entrant into the Top 10 Monday is Russian Karen Khachanov, who ascended to a career-high World No. 9, becoming the first man from his country to be ranked inside the Top 10 since Mikhail Youzhny the week of 17 January 2011. Khachanov and Fognini are the 164th and 165th players to earn a spot in the sport’s upper echelon.

Fognini had to sweat a bit more during Roland Garros than Khachanov, though. When the Italian lost in the fourth round in Paris, there was a chance that multiple players could pass him. But Khachanov defeated Juan Martin del Potro, guaranteeing Fognini would move ahead of the Tower of Tandil. If Del Potro had won that match, he would have passed the 32-year-old.

Watch ATP Uncovered presented by Peugeot: Fognini On Fatherhood & Fantastic Form

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka would have returned to the Top 10 if he reached the final, but the Swiss lost in the quarter-finals against countryman Roger Federer.

Fognini has been a Top 100 stalwart for more than a decade. In fact, he has remained inside the Top 50 since September 2012. In March 2013, he reached what was then a career-high of No. 13. But this year was the first time he made a serious run at the Top 10. Fognini won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on 21 April to position himself for this breakthrough.