The plaudits have rung out for Rafael Nadal since his return to the top of the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday. It is a feat few would have thought possible when seeing Nadal desolate at withdrawing during his Roland Garros campaign last year and ultimately dropping to No. 9 in the standings.

It was from ninth spot that the Spaniard began 2017 and the tenacity, desire and fighting spirit that has been synonymous with Nadal throughout his career has carried him back to the top. Now Nadal is looking to crown his memorable 2017 by finishing as the year-end No. 1, an achievement that would arguably be of even greater significance in the record books.

It is set to be a fight to the finish with his long-time rival, Roger Federer, with the possibility that the battle for No. 1 could be settled at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London, where Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in a winner-take-all championship match last year.

Since the Emirates ATP Rankings began in 1973, only four players (Ivan Lendl, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) have reclaimed the year-end No. 1 spot after losing it. In a showing of unparalleled perseverance, only Nadal has achieved this on more than one occasion, returning to the top of the year-end rankings in 2010 and 2013. Now, he’s looking to do it for a third time in 2017.

Players To Have Regained Year-End No. 1

To pull off this unprecedented feat on the ATP World Tour, Nadal will have to face down Federer. Going into the US Open, where 2000 points are awarded to the winner, Nadal has a 500-point lead on the Swiss, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. The Spaniard is only defending 280 points for the remainder of the season, but Federer, who curtailed his 2016 campaign in July, is defending nothing. 

The year-end No. 1 ranking is decided by the results over the course of the season. Nadal has finished the season at No. 1 three times (2008, 2010, 2013), placing him seventh on the all-time list on the ATP World Tour. If he were to achieve it for the fourth time, he would be in joint-fourth position with John McEnroe, Lendl and Djokovic.

Most Year-End No. 1 Finishes

Players will usually say that staying at the top is more difficult than getting there in the first place. Nadal has proven time and time again that he can return to the top of the game. Together with Pete Sampras and Federer, he currently holds one of the most notable statistics in the game: the biggest gap between his first year-end No. 1 finish (2008) and his most recent (2013) – six years. Now Nadal will look to finish as year-end No. 1 10 years after first doing so.

With one Grand Slam, two ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and the Nitto ATP Finals (1500 points for the winner) still to come, it is set up to be compelling viewing for a photo-finish for two of tennis’ greatest rivals as Nadal and Federer both chase down the year-end top spot. 

Everywhere he went, ATP World Tour Executive Chairman and President Chris Kermode heard the same thing on Monday at the Winston-Salem Open.

“Every player comes up and says, ‘What an amazing event. It’s so friendly. Loads of practice courts. Good facilities.’ So no wonder it won the best 250 award on tour. I can quite see why it won. It’s brilliant,” Kermode said.

The Winston-Salem Open, along with the If Stockholm Open, was voted by players as the best ATP World Tour 250 Tournament in 2016. Kermode attended the tournament for the first time on Monday to help officials celebrate the honour.

“It’s amazing. I arrived and I had no idea what to expect, and then I come here and see this amazing university setup, incredible football arena that we’re now looking over at,” Kermode said.

The tournament, in its seventh year, is hosted at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The university’s tennis complex features 11 courts available for practice throughout the day. Players also have opportunities to work out on campus, including on the football field, which is adjacent to the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

“It’s established itself, put roots in the ground here,” Kermode said. “It’s now an event that people want to come and win, which is fantastic and that’s a huge testament to everyone who’s worked on this event.”

Read More: Fritz Leads #NextGenATP Success In Winston-Salem

#NextGenATP Taylor Fritz was slipping and nearly out of the Winston-Salem Open on Monday evening.

The American had dropped five consecutive games to Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri and risked going down a set and a double break to the 33-year-old veteran and 2015 Winston-Salem Open semi-finalist.

But Fritz erased four break points in that 1-2 game in the second set, and the hold energised his play. The 19 year old evened the match and earned a crucial break in the decider to serve out the contest and advance 4-6, 6-4 6-3 in two hours and three minutes.

Fritz, a wild-card entry, hit 12 aces and had success with his serve-forehand combination throughout the match, especially in the latter stages. The 6’4” right-hander hit 33 winners to 37 unforced errors.

Earlier this month, Fritz reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos before falling to eventual finalist and #NextGenATP Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis. In Winston-Salem, Fritz will next face 10^th seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan. Sugita is coming off his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final last week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

#NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev won 92 per cent of his first-serve points (22/24) and feasted on Steve Darcis’ second serve (19/29) to beat the Belgian 6-4, 6-4. Rublev will next play 13^th seed and #NextGenATP Korean Hyeon Chung.

Fritz (14^th), Rublev (sixth) and Chung (eighth) will look to climb in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan this week. The top seven in the Race will qualify for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 7-11 November in Milan, with the eighth player chosen by wild card.

See Who’s Leading The Emirates ATP Race To Milan

Fritz’s compatriot Donald Young improved to 5-5 at Winston-Salem lifetime with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva. Young will meet #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric in the second round.

“Any win at this level before the [US] Open builds confidence so every win I get I feel a lot better about myself,” Young said.

Julien Benneteau, 2011 finalist, won the battle of Frenchmen 6-3, 6-2 against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and will next face second seed and defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta. “He has a very good first serve, and he can be very dangerous with his groundstrokes,” Benneteau said of his countryman. “I’m happy with the way I played today.”

Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis punched the first ticket into the third round with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory against 16^th seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.

#NextGenATP Jared Donaldson breaks the American mould.

The 20-year-old Donaldson, 20, who lives in Irvine, California, is racing up the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2017, enjoying a career-high position at No. 51 this week. He started 2017 at No. 105, playing a mix of ATP Challenger and ATP World Tour events for the first four months of the season.

Now he is doing damage only in the big leagues, and he is doing it in an unconventional way for an American prodigy.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis reveals that, in general, American players are more proficient on the serving side of the game than returning. For example, there are currently four American players in the Top 26 of the Infosys ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARDS, powered by Infosys Nia Data. But no Americans are in the Top 30 on the Return LEADERBOARD.

Indeed, the five highest-ranked American players in the Emirates ATP Rankings all perform better on the serving side of the equation than returning.

Who is the best American returner for the past 52 weeks? It’s Donaldson, who is currently the sixth-highest ranked American player overall. It’s quite an accomplishment to be the best performing returner in the United States and not yet be ranked in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Top Six American Players: Infosys Serve & Return LEADERBOARDS Ratings, powered by Infosys Nia Data

Donaldson’s Infosys Return Rating of No. 32 in 2017 elevates him higher in this specific category than well-recognized players, such as Lucas Pouille (34), Kyle Edmund (35), Stan Wawrinka (40), Juan Martin Del Potro (41), and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (45).

Donaldson scored one of the biggest wins of his career last week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, defeating No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(5), 6-3 in the opening round. His break-out victory was 12 months ago at the US Open, where he defeated No. 14 David Goffin 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0 in the first round, and that was after Donaldson won three rounds of qualifying to make the main draw.

Donaldson is doing very well in 2017 breaking serve right after he has been broken, speaking to the maturity of his emerging game. Donaldson is breaking back 20 per cent (17/85) of the time, which is more than higher-ranked Americans Steve Johnson, who is at 14 per cent (11/76), and Ryan Harrison, who is at just 10 per cent (8/79).

When Donaldson gets ahead 0/30 in his opponent’s service games in 2017, he is breaking serve 63 per cent (37/59) of the time. At 30/40, with an opportunity to break serve, he is breaking 48 per cent (40/84) of the time. These numbers are already impressive and will continue to inch up as he gains more experience on tour.

Donaldson’s solid run in Cincinnati last week elevated him five spots to third place in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, ahead of fellow Americans Frances Tiafoe (nine), Ernesto Escobedo (10), Taylor Fritz (14), and Tommy Paul (16). The top seven players in the Race will qualify to compete at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 7-11 November in Milan. The eighth player will be determined by wild card.

Donaldson’s days of flying under the radar are about to end.