Big Three back where they belong in year-end rankings

The Big Three is the year-end top three, something that last happened in 2014.

With Novak Djokovic at No 1, Rafael Nadal at No 2 and Roger Federer at No 3 on Monday, that trio of tennis greats leads the season's final ATP rankings for the seventh time.

This is the first occasion, though, that each of them has spent some time at the summit during the same year. The seven changes at No 1 were the most since 1999, when there were eight.

Djokovic won Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018, while Federer took the Australian Open, and Nadal earned the title at the French Open.

They accounted for Nos 1-3 in the final rankings from 2007-11 and in 2014.

For Djokovic, it marks the fifth time he has closed a year at No 1, following top-spot finishes in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Only Pete Sampras, with six year-end No 1s, achieved the feat more often.

The 31-year-old Djokovic is also the oldest man to be No 1 at the end of a season and the first to finish atop the rankings after being outside the top 20 during the year - or outside the top 10 at the end of the previous year (he was No 12 in 2017).

Simona Halep ended the season at No 1 in the WTA rankings for the second consecutive year; she clinched that spot more than a month ago. Angelique Kerber was No 2 among women, followed by Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina and Naomi Osaka.

Serbian Djokovic overtook Nadal three weeks ago; the latter has not competed since ending his season early due to a niggling right-knee injury that flared up during his US Open semifinal defeat to Juan Martin del Potro in September. Nadal had keyhole surgery on his right ankle this month.

The Spaniard concludes a season at No 1 or No 2 for the 10th time, trailing only Federer's 11 top-two finishes.

Swiss great Federer is in the year-end top three for a record 14th time. The 37-yearold has won 20 Grand Slam singles championships, the most by a man, followed by Nadal with 17, then Djokovic and the retired Sampras with 14 apiece.

The rest of the ATP top 10 for 2018 is: No 4 Alexander Zverev, No 5 del Potro, No 6 Kevin Anderson, No 7 Marin Cilic, No 8 Dominic Thiem, No 9 Kei Nishikori and No 10 John Isner.

Del Potro was the runnerup at the US Open, Anderson at Wimbledon, Cilic at the Australian Open, and Thiem at Roland Garros.

Neither Anderson nor Isner had ever finished a year in the top 10 before, while del Potro is back in that group for the first time since 2013.

Associated Press

ina Daily 11/28/2018 page24)