Sports Saturday on Empty Streets: Top 3 Male Tennis Players

I was rather curious to find out who the top 3 male tennis players were for 2009. What I was surprised to see was that there were definitely 3 of them and that they have been in the top three positions for over 2 years now.

1. Rafael Nadal Parera (born June 3, 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 since August 18 2008. He has won six Grand Slam singles titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. He has captured the last four French Open singles titles, joining Björn Borg in 2008 as the only other man to have won four consecutive singles titles there. In 2008, Nadal became the second Spanish man to win Wimbledon. Nadal is only the third male player in the open era to have won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, and the first since 1980 (Borg). In 2009, Nadal became the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open
Since 2004, Nadal has had a storied rivalry with Roger Federer, which many consider to be among the greatest in tennis history. They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in seven Grand Slam finals, with Nadal winning five of those matches. Nadal was ranked World No. 2 behind Federer for a record 160 weeks before earning the top spot. Nadal has won 13 of their 19 singles matches, as well as all five of their most recent encounters.

Nadal has been especially successful on clay courts. He has a 25–1 record in clay court tournament finals and is undefeated in 45 best-of-five-set matches on clay. In each of the last four years, he has won both the French Open and two clay court Masters Series tournaments. He also owns the longest single-surface winning streak by a man in the open era, having won 81 consecutive matches on clay from April 2005 to May 2007. As a result, some tennis critics and top players already regard him as the greatest clay-court player of all time.

On August 18, 2008, for the first time ever Nadal clinched the year-end World No. 1 ranking for 2008. The same year, he was given the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for his achievements in sports.

2. Novak Djokovic born May 22, 1987 in Belgrade, Serbia is a Serbian professional tennis player who, as of May 11, 2009, is ranked World No. 4.
He won his first Grand Slam singles title at the 2008 Australian Open. After beating World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals, Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events. He was the runner-up at the 2007 US Open and won the bronze medal in singles representing Serbia at the 2008 Olympic Games. He won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and has won four Masters Series tournaments.

3. Roger Federer born on August 8, 1981 is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 2. He was the World No. 1 ranked player for a record 237 consecutive weeks, from February 2, 2004, to August 17, 2008. Federer is widely considered one of the greatest male singles tennis players of all time.

Federer has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles (3 Australian Open, 5 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), currently just one shy of all-time leader Pete Sampras. He also has won 4 ATP World Tour Finals titles, 14 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, and 26 standard ATP tour titles. He holds numerous records in the sport, including having appeared in 10 consecutive Grand Slam men's singles finals (2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2007 US Open) and 19 consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals (2004 Wimbledon–present). He also holds the open era records for most consecutive wins on both grass courts and hard courts. He also has a storied rivalry with Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who succeeded Federer as the World No. 1 player in 2008.

As a result of Federer's success in the sport, he has been named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 4 consecutive years (2005–08).

Here is a video of the Top 8 Male Tennis Player sought after by many: