Injuries, heart-breaking losses and doubts about if he’d ever return to the top of the Emirates ATP Rankings. Rafael Nadal has experienced it all since he last reigned at World No. 1, on 6 June 2014.

But during that time, he has courageously placed distractions to the side and forged ahead with the work of improving his career. On Monday 21 August, he’ll received another reward when he returns to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Nadal and Federer were set to battle for the top Emirates ATP Ranking this week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. But with Federer’s withdrawal because of a back injury on Monday, Nadal is guaranteed to take the top spot in one week.

“Obviously it’s bad news for the event that Roger is not playing. For me personally obviously to be back to that position is something special,” Nadal said on Monday during his pre-tournament press conference.

“A lot of things have happened since the last time I was in this spot. Injuries and some tough moments, of course, but I have held the passion and the love for the game, and that’s why I have the chance to be back in that position again. So I’m just trying to enjoy the moment and just trying to be ready to compete well here. That’s the most important thing for me now.”

Considering the past 12 months for Nadal, his climb to No. 1 must be especially sweet. He ended last season early because of an injury to his left wrist. The final time his fans watched him play in 2016 was a straight-set loss to Serbian Viktor Troicki at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

How would Nadal return in 2017? Would he be able to re-gain his top form? Questions of all kinds were posed at the Spaniard in January. But he has more than answered every question – in the press room and on the court – this season.

Nadal has four titles this year, including his historic “La Décima” at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and Roland Garros. He has reached three other finals, including the Australian Open and the Miami Open presented by Itau, falling to Federer, and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, when he lost to Sam Querrey of the U.S. Nadal leads the ATP World Tour with seven final appearances.

“I am having a great season,” Nadal said.

But plenty of tournaments remain for the Spaniard, and for Federer, who could re-take No. 1 later this year. “Roger and I are both having a great season. I think both of us are going to have the chance to be in that position until the end of the season. It depends on the results… So let’s see. I have an opportunity here to compete well this week and I’m going to try to do it,” Nadal said.

He is the top seed at this week’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. Nadal has spent 141 weeks at No. 1, and first ascended there nearly nine years ago to the date, on 18 August 2008, at the age of 22.

He will meet Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the second round. The left-hander leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 14-0 and has not lost a set against Gasquet since 2008. “I have been playing great. I think I am practising well, too. I think I am ready to compete,” Nadal said.

Roger Federer has withdrawn from the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The seven-time champion said on Monday that a back injury will force him to miss the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament this week.

“I am very sorry to pull out of the Western & Southern Open as I always enjoy playing here,” Federer said. “Cincinnati has some of the best fans in the world and I am sorry I will miss them. Unfortunately, I tweaked my back in Montreal and I need to rest this week.”

Federer fell in the Coupe Rogers final to Alexander Zverev, the first title match the Swiss has lost this season (5-1 record). His withdrawal guarantees Rafael Nadal will return to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings when the new rankings are released on Monday 21 August. Nadal has spent 141 weeks at the top spot but hasn’t been No. 1 since 6 July 2014.

No. 67 Denis Shapovalov, +76
Shapovalov began the year at No. 250 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Today, after reaching the Coupe Roger semi-finals, he broke into the Top 100 at No. 67. The 18-year-old lefty knocked out established players all week, including Juan Martin del Potro, Rafael Nadal and Adrian Mannarino. The #NextGenATP Canadian is in good position to make the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, to be held 7-11 November. By becoming the youngest ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-finalist (since 1990), Shapovalov rose to fourth place in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, which will determine seven of the eight 21-and-under players who compete at the inaugural tournament.

No. 7 Alexander Zverev, +1
Zverev may be #NextGenATP, but he’s very much the present. In lifting his fifth trophy of the year – and sixth title overall – at the Coupe Rogers, the 20-year-old German rose one spot to a career-high No. 7. He claimed a second consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (also Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome), becoming the first player outside the ‘Big Four’ to win multiple Masters 1000 crowns in the same season since David Nalbandian 10 years ago. Zverev, the leader of the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, became the first player to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals as a result of reaching the Montreal title match. Buy Tickets

View Latest Emirates ATP Rankings

No. 27 Kevin Anderson, +5
The amiable South African is getting back to where he wants to be, determined and focused after a long road back from injury. Having reached the Citi Open final in Washington, D.C. (l. to Zverev) last week, Anderson made a run to the Montreal quarter-finals, where he lost to the same player. In moving up five positions to No. 27, Anderson returns to the Top 30 for the first time since 22 August 2016. He spent one week as a member of the Top 10, at No. 10, on 12 October 2015.

No. 35 Robin Haase, +17
The star of many a players’ party at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he reached the 2012 quarter-finals during a career-best year, is now two spots off his career-high (No. 33 on 30 July 2012). Haase advanced to his first semi-final at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level in Montreal, where he lost to Roger Federer. At the age of 30, the Dutchman’s belief is growing and his hard work is paying off.

No. 49 Hyeon Chung, +7
The South Korean began 2017 at No. 104 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and this week makes his Top 50 debut at No. 49 having beaten Feliciano Lopez and David Goffin en route to the Montreal third round (l. to Mannarino). The #NextGenATP is also No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan.

Other Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 50 Borna Coric, +5
No. 60 Jared Donaldson, +6
No. 61 Yen-Hsun Lu, +9
No. 63 Pierre-Hugues Herbert, +6
No. 70 Dudi Sela, +7
No. 76 Ernesto Escobedo, +9
No. 81 Norbert Gombos, +7
No. 85 Thomas Fabbiano, +6
No. 93 Mikhail Youzhny, +5
No. 99 Sergiy Stakhovsky, +16

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for Day 2 of the Western & Southern Open and vote for who you think will win!
Querrey vs. Kozlov | M. Zverev vs. Verdasco | Lopez vs. Chung

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1) Six Americans, led by World No. 20 Sam Querrey and #NextGenATP wild cards Stefan Kozlov and Tommy Paul, take the court for their opening-round matches Monday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

2) Querrey, the No. 15 seed, begins his bid for a third ATP World Tour title this year and second of the summer hard-court swing when he meets the 19-year-old Kozlov on Center Court Monday afternoon. Last year, Querrey defeated Kozlov in the QF at ‘s-Hertogenbosch on grass in their only previous meeting on the ATP World Tour. This will be Querrey’s 11th appearance in Cincinnati, reaching the QF in 2007 (l. to Blake) for his best performance here, and is 10-10 lifetime. He swept all nine of his matches in Mexico this year, capturing his 9th and 10th career ATP World Tour titles at Acapulco (d. Nadal) and Los Cabos (d. Kokkinakis), respectively. Last week, Querrey lost to Kevin Anderson in the R16 at ATP Masters 1000 Montreal. Kozlov, ranked No. 133 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is making his main draw debut in Cincinnati after failing to get out of qualifying in 2015-16. He advanced to the R16 at ’s-Hertogenbosch as a wild card (d. Brown, l. to Karlovic) and London/Queen’s Club as a qualifier (d. Johnson, l. to Cilic), but is just 2-8 overall on the ATP World Tour in 2017.

3) American qualifier Christopher Eubanks, coming off a career week in his home city of Atlanta last month, meets Frenchman Gael Monfils for the first time in the featured evening match on Center Court. The 21-year-old Eubanks advanced to the QF in Atlanta (d. Fritz in R32, Donaldson in R16, l. to Harrison in QF) in his first ATP World Tour event of 2017 and third of his career, all in Atlanta. He reached a career-high No. 348 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on July 31 and is currently ranked No. 374, the lowest-ranked player in the field. Monfils, a quarter-finalist here in 2011 (l. to No. 1 Djokovic), is 10-8 lifetime in Cincinnati. The World No. 21 bounced back from a R32 loss in Washington (l. to 200th-ranked qualifier Bhambri) by reaching the R16 last week at the ATP Masters 1000 Montreal (d. Nishikori in R32, l. to Bautista Agut).

4) A second all-American first-round matchup is slated to kick off action on the Grandstand Court when Donald Young faces Tommy Paul for the first time on the ATP World Tour. Young is bidding for his first match win in four tries at Cincinnati (2008, l. to Monfils; 2010, l. to Gulbis; 2012, l. to Levine). Ranked No. 57 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Young has dropped three of his last four matches since defeating Tim Smyczek in the 1R at Atlanta (l. to Lacko in R16 at Atlanta; d. Smyczek in 1R, l. to Nishikori in R32 at Washington; l. to Paire in R64 at ATP Masters 1000 Montreal). The 20-year-old Paul is competing in Cincinnati for the first time following back-to-back QF appearances in Atlanta and Washington. He reached his first career ATP World Tour QF in Atlanta (d. Chung in R32, d. Jaziri in R16, l. to Muller in QF) and followed that up by reaching the QF in Washington (d. No. 17 Pouille in R32, No. 21 Muller in R16, l. to No. 9 Nishikori in QF). Paul reached a career-high No. 174 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on August 7.

5) The second afternoon match on the Grandstand Court features Fabio Fognini taking on Daniil Medvedev in a first-time encounter. Fognini advanced to the QF at Cincinnati in 2014 (l. to Raonic) and is 4-6 lifetime. The Italian No. 1 won his fifth ATP World Tour title in Gstaad (d. Hanfmann) last month and followed that with a SF showing in Kitzbuehel (l. to eventual champion Kohlschreiber). Medvedev, making his Cincinnati debut, advanced to the QF in Washington (d. Dimitrov in R16, l. to eventual champion A. Zverev in QF) but fell in the 1R to Adrian Mannarino last week at the ATP Masters 1000 Montreal. The 21-year-old Russian advanced to his 1st ATP World Tour SF and final at Chennai (d. Sela after saving 1 MP, l. to Bautista Agut) in January.

6) The night match on the Grandstand Court features two players who have not faced each other in nine years when Germany’s Mischa Zverev and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco square off in the first round. Verdasco has won all four meetings with Zverev, but the two have not met since the QF at New Haven in 2008, won by Verdasco in straight sets. The 29-year-old Zverev is winless in two previous trips to Cincinnati (2009, l. to Mathieu, R64; 2016, l. to Lopez, R64) but is hoping some of the success of his younger brother rubs off on him after 20-year-old Alexander Zverev defeated Roger Federer on Sunday to win the ATP Masters 1000 Montreal title. The elder Zverev advanced to his 2nd ATP World Tour singles final at Geneva as a qualifier (d. Nishikori, l. to Wawrinka) and earned the biggest win of his career over No. 1 Andy Murray to reach his 1st Grand Slam QF at the Australian Open (l. to Federer). Verdasco has an 8-11 lifetime record in Cincinnati, reaching the R16 in 2008 (l. to Lapentti) and 2011 (l. to Nadal). The Spaniard reached the final in Dubai (l. to Murray) and the SF at Doha (l. to Djokovic) and Bastad (l. to Ferrer).

A LOOK BACK

Zavarovalnica Sava Slovenia Open (Portoroz, Slovenia): Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky makes a return to the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after rallying from a set and a break down to deny Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 6-3 in Portoroz. The 31-year-old Kiev native is projected to return to World No. 99 with his sixth Challenger title and first since May 2016 in Seoul.  

#NextGenATP Italian Berrettini will break into the Top 150 for the first time with his fourth Challenger final. Meanwhile, the event brought a close to the career of local favourite, former World No. 43 Grega Zemlja. The Slovenian won six titles on the ATP Challenger Tour. 

Wishing all the best to @GZemlja in retirement. The former World No. 43 and six-time #ATPChallenger titlist hung up his racquet in Portoroz. pic.twitter.com/EiTw0KCNl0

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 12, 2017

Nordic Naturals Challenger (Aptos, California, USA): Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik boosted his chances of qualifying for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Brit Liam Broady in Aptos. It is the 20 year old’s second Challenger title of the season after Morelos, Mexico in February and boosts him to a career-high No. 104 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. It is the 12th time this season a NextGenATP player has won on the ATP Challenger Tour. It brought Broady’s run of six straight wins to an end, having won through qualifying.

mt.ten Cup (Jinan, China): Yen Hsun Lu’s extraordinary run continued with a 29th ATP Challenger Tour title in Jinan. The top seed took down former World No. 50 Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 6-1 to make it back-to-back Challenger titles. The 33 year old of Chinese Taipei won last week in Chengdu and earlier in the year in Taipei City. He has not dropped a set in his past seven finals and extends his record in Challenger finals to 21-3 since 2008. Lu is projected to rise nine places in the Emirates ATP Rankings to No. 61. Berankis was searching for his second Challenger title of the season after his triumph in the Shymkent Challenger, Kazakhstan.

.@LuRendy reflects on a successful week in Jinan, China, where he claimed a 29th #ATPChallenger title. pic.twitter.com/dCSiLI8i9Z

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 14, 2017

Claro Open (Floridablanca, Colombia): In an all-Argentine final, top seed Guido Pella took down Facundo Arguello 6-2, 6-4 to claim his 12th Challenger title and second of the year after Milan. The 27 year old did not drop a set all week and surges 17 spots to No. 75 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, his highest position since November last year.

Congrats @guido_pella! ?? lifts his 12th #ATPChallenger trophy, defeating countryman #Arguello 62 64 in Floridablanca @Tenisgrandslam. pic.twitter.com/To8S5E7z1t

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 13, 2017

A LOOK AHEAD

 Four Challenger events will take place this week, headed by the $125,000 Milex Open, in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Three players in the Top 100 head the seedings, with Bosnian World No. 73 Damir Dzumhur top seed, followed by former World No. 9, Nicolas Almagro. This week’s Claro Open champion Guido Pella and home hopeful Victor Estrella Burgos round out the top four seeds. NextGenATP prospects Casper Ruud, of Norway, and Chile’s Nicolas Jarry are also seeded.

Seven of the Top 8 seeds in the $100,000 event in Vancouver, Canada, are ranked in the Top 100. Four-time Odlum Brown VanOpen champion Dudi Sela, of Israel, returns. The 32 year old former World No. 29 boasts a 23-1 record at the tournament and is just the fifth player in Challenger history to win four or more titles at the same event. Australia’s 23-year-old Jordan Thompson is seeded second. Thompson beat World No. 1 Andy Murray at the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club. Romanian Marius Copil and Slovakian Norbert Gombos complete the top four seeds. #NextGenATP French player Quentin Halys takes on local veteran Peter Polansky in the first round. The Canadian is looking to reach his fourth straight Challenger final on home soil. NextGenATP players Taylor Fritz, Duckhee Lee, Sebastian Ofner and Noah Rubin will also start.

The $75,000 Challenger in Cordenons, Italy, is back for a 14th year. Serbian Laslo Djere and Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez are the top two seeds. Recent Segovia Challenger champion Jaume Munar, of Spain, is also part of the field. 

Lastly, the $50,000 event in Meerbusch, Germany, returns for a fifth year and boasts two Top 60 players as its top two seeds. Local hopeful Florian Mayer, a runner-up in the recent German Open on the ATP World Tour is No. 1 seed, followed by World No. 60 Steve Darcis, of Belgium. 

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ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallenger at twitter.com/ATPChallenger

Fourteenth seed John Isner won 91 per cent of his first-serve points (42/46) to win his opener at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati 7-6(3), 6-4 against Serbian Viktor Troicki on Sunday.

The American hit 20 aces and saved both break points to improve to 3-4 against Troicki in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Isner, who is 9-1 in his past 10 matches, has won two titles in the past month: the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport and the BB&T Atlanta Open.

He reached the Cincinnati final in 2013, beating Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro before falling to Rafael Nadal in the final. Isner will next meet a compatriot, either #NextGenATP Tommy Paul or Donald Young.

Gilles Muller, also a two-time titlist this season, leaned on his serve to get through a tight first-round contest against Ryan Harrison of the U.S. Muller struck 21 aces in a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3) win that took two hours and four minutes.

Muller, the 16^th seed, is making only his second appearance in Cincinnati. He fell in the first round in 2015 to Benoit Paire. The Luxembourg left-hander will next play Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain or Russian Mikhail Youzhny.