Wawrinka up to 4th, Nadal slumps
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Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal鈥檚 loss in the quarterfinals dropped him three places to No. 10 in yesterday鈥檚 ATP rankings, his lowest spot since April 2005, while champion Stan Wawrinka rose from No. 9 to No. 4.
Novak Djokovic maintained a healthy lead at No. 1, despite losing to Wawrinka on Sunday in the final at Roland Garros. That prevented Djokovic from completing a career grand slam.
It was Djokovic who beat Nadal this year, ending the Spaniard鈥檚 39-match French Open winning streak.
Wawrinka鈥檚 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final 鈥 a year after he lost in the first round in Paris 鈥 gave him a second major title. The 30-year-old Swiss also won the 2014 Australian Open.
No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 Andy Murray and No. 5 Kei Nishikori did not move in the rankings.
Serena Williams鈥 third French Open championship and 20th grand slam title overall increased her margin at No. 1 in the WTA rankings.
Lucie Safarova, the runner-up in Paris, moved from No. 13 to a career-best No. 7 after reaching her first grand slam final. Timea Bacsinszky, who pushed an ailing Williams to three sets in the semifinals, climbed nine spots to No. 15, her top ranking.
Maria Sharapova fell from No. 2 to No. 4 after losing to Safarova in the fourth round as the defending champion.
Petra Kvitova went up two places to No. 2, while Simona Halep remained at No. 3, and Caroline Wozniacki at No. 5.
In fact, Wawrinka and his wondrous one-handed backhand managed to pull off a feat no man outside tennis鈥檚 Big Four had achieved in the past 40 grand slams 鈥 to win two major titles.
It has been 10 long years since anyone not named Federer, Nadal, Djokovic or Murray had been able to boast of being anything other than a one-hit wonder.
Even the one-hit wonders have been a rare commodity, with only Juan Martin del Potro, Wawrinka and Marin Cilic bursting the Big Four鈥檚 bubble from May 2005 to May 2015.
So how did Wawrinka pull off the impossible 鈥 and that too by toppling overwhelming favorite Djokovic in the final?
鈥淚 was relaxed on my backhand side and I could hit some wonderful backhands,鈥 Wawrinka summed up simply.
It was a shot that left others purring.
鈥淲ow! Just wow! I wanna play like that!鈥 Serena Williams exclaimed on twitter while former professional-turned-coach Ivan Ljubicic added 鈥淗olly Swiss cow. That was something #bullets.鈥
But no one had a better view of the backhand bullets than the man on the opposite side of the net on Sunday.
鈥淗e has probably the best one-handed backhand on the tour. No question one of the best one-handed backhands that I have seen in tennis,鈥 Djokovic said.
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