Men's Tennis: 5 Lesser known records of Rafael Nadal

#5 Only man to have regained the year-end No. 1 ranking three times

Rafael Nadal with the Year End World Number 1 ranking trophy in 2017

Rafael Nadal from 2005 to August 2008 was ranked World Number 2 for 160 consecutive weeks (all-time record) behind his arch-rival Roger Federer.

Since finally ascending to the top post his Wimbledon exploits in 2008, Nadal has achieved a season-ending ranking of World Number 1 on 4 different occasions, the latest being in 2017. His 9 year-gap between first finishing the year as Number 1 and last finishing the year as Number 1 in 2017 is an all-time record.

Nadal regained the year-end World Number 1 ranking from Roger Federer in 2008 in 2010. He regained the year end top ranking from Novak Djokovic in 2013 and from Andy Murray in 2017. This makes the only male player across all Eras to have finished the year as World Number 1 on 4 non-consecutive years.