17 Years Ago, Nadal Dethroned Federer for the World No. 1 Spot
An August 18, 2008, unlike any other. In the tennis world, a small earthquake had just been triggered by 22-year-old Rafael Nadal.
The Mallorcan, who had won Roland-Garros and Wimbledon that year against his rival Roger Federer, also added three Masters 1000 titles to his record (Monte-Carlo, Hamburg, and Toronto), followed by a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.
A haul of titles that allowed him, after 160 consecutive weeks as world No. 2, to finally claim the ultimate prize in the rankings and dethrone Roger Federer from the No. 1 spot. The Swiss, unbeatable for so many years despite Nadal's rise, had achieved the feat of spending 237 consecutive weeks as world No. 1—more than four and a half years atop the ATP rankings—from February 2004 to August 2008.
A record number that, for now, is far from being broken. During this first stint, Nadal would remain world No. 1 for 46 straight weeks.
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