Ilie Nastase has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent days. Tennis fans will remember a few months ago when he allegedly made insensitive remarks about Serena Williams and her unborn child. He was punished for that late last week as the ITF handed down a decision regarding the former World No. 1's conduct. That decision will keep him out of official roles for the next few years. But in regard to his tennis playing career, Andy Murray, the current World No. 1, may soon pass Nastase in the record books.
The last week of ATP tennis only featured very low-tiered tournaments.
The results in those events did not shake up the top ten or even the top five. Accordingly, Murray remains the World No. 1 in the rankings for July 24th, 2017. All totaled, it is his 38th week as the top-ranked player in the world. Nastase, who was the first World No. 1 when the modern ranking system was implemented, stood as the No. 1 tennis player for a total of 40 weeks. That means that Murray could soon tie the Romanian and even pass him in the world rankings.
Murray's lead in the rankings small
That said, Murray's lead in the rankings at present is quite slim. He only leads Rafael Nadal by about 300 points. Murray's lead over Roger Federer is greater at about 1200 points. The Canadian Masters, which will be played in Montreal this year, is the next key event on tour.
The Scot did not play in the Canadian Masters last season, and that's good at this point. It means that he has ranking points to gain at this season's event. Nadal and Federer also have ranking points to gain there as well, so the results of that tournament promise to be important for the top ranking.
Murray very likely to get at least 2 more weeks
However, Andy Murray does project to at least tie Nastase at this point. The Canadian Masters will run from August 7th to 13th. That means that the rankings will update with the results from that tournament on August 14th, 2017. Accordingly, unless something unexpected happens in the lower-tiered events that will be played between now and then, Murray will add two more weeks to his tenure.
That is, he should be ranked No. 1 on July 31st and August 7th to get to 40 weeks. For the August-14th rankings, he'll need to fend off Nadal's charge in Montreal. However, at least Murray will enter that tournament with a lead over the Spaniard in the rankings. Feasibly, Murray could lose No. 1, but if he is able to hang on then he will move into 14th all time for weeks spent as the No. 1 since the modern-rankings system was introduced in 1973. If he does lose top spot, he may still get it back at some point down the line.
