ATP Men's Tennis Rankings as of May 21, 2012

By winning the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012 at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, Rafael Nadal assured himself the world no. 2 ranking after losing the spot last week when Roger Federer won the Madrid title two weeks ago. The seeding for the French Open 2012 is based on the latest rankings this week, and with his ascension to world no. 2, Nadal assured himself as the no. 2 seed for the next grand slam that starts this weekend. Not that Nadal cares where he’s placed on the draw; as most tennis observers would say, he is the man to beat at the French Open anyway. Nadal is aiming for a record seventh Roland Garros title this year.

The person who is most impacted by Nadal’s rise to no. 2 is world no. 3 Roger Federer. This means that the 16-time Grand Slam champion would need to beat both Nadal and world no. 1 Novak Djokovic to win his second French Open crown. Federer lost to Djokovic in the semifinals in Rome, and has never beaten Nadal on the red clay of Roland Garros. It would almost seem an impossibility to beat Djokovic and Nadal in back-to-back matches but then again, Federer is most possibly the only person who can do that at the moment.

The other change in the top 10 is the re-entry of inactive American Mardy Fish into the elite group. Isner lost his spot to Fish as his 2011 ranking points fell off this week, and enabled Fish to be the top American seed heading into Paris. With all top players expected to attend the French Open, the top 32 ranked players this week are expected to be seeded. Ranking movements that will be impacting the French Open seeds include that of Mikhail Youzhny, Julien Benneteau, Jurgen Melzer and Florian Mayer. Youzhny jumped four spots to move to no. 30, while Benneteau moved one spot up to be no. 32. On the other hand, Melzer fell two spots to no. 33 and Mayer was the biggest loser in the top 30 falling 7 spots from no. 28 to no. 35.

ATP Tour Rankings as of May 21, 2012

1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) 11,800
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) 10,060
3 Federer, Roger (SUI) 9,790
4 Murray, Andy (GBR) 7,500
5 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) 4,965
6 Ferrer, David (ESP) 4,640
7 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) 4,500
8 Tipsarevic, Janko (SRB) 3,010
9 Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG) 2,910
10 Fish, Mardy (USA) 2,625
11 Isner, John (USA) 2,620
12 Simon, Gilles (FRA) 2,615
13 Monfils, Gael (FRA) 2,165
14 Almagro, Nicolas (ESP) 2,095
15 Monaco, Juan (ARG) 1,945
16 Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) 1,765
17 Lopez, Feliciano (ESP) 1,725
18 Nishikori, Kei (JPN) 1,690
19 Dolgopolov, Alexandr (UKR) 1,665
20 Gasquet, Richard (FRA) 1,600
21 Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI) 1,505
22 Raonic, Milos (CAN) 1,460
23 Granollers, Marcel (ESP) 1,385
24 Cilic, Marin (CRO) 1,380
25 Seppi, Andreas (ITA) 1,355
26 Stepanek, Radek (CZE) 1,340
27 Kohlschreiber, Philipp (GER) 1,320
28 Tomic, Bernard (AUS) 1,240
29 Roddick, Andy (USA) 1,225
30 Youzhny, Mikhail (RUS) 1,210
31 Troicki, Viktor (SRB) 1,195
32 Benneteau, Julien (FRA) 1,190
33 Melzer, Jurgen (AUT) 1,182
34 Anderson, Kevin (RSA) 1,170
35 Mayer, Florian (GER) 1,145