Nadal returns to ATP play as world No. 5

LONDON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal returns to competitive tennis this week but, for the first time in almost eight years, it will be as the world's No. 5-ranked player.

Nadal is the top seed at the VTR Open by Cachantun in Chile. It is his first tournament since last summer when he was a surprise second-round loser at Wimbledon.

Since then he's been recovering from a knee injury and a stomach virus that have kept him off the court. After the Australian Open, Nadal fell to No. 5 in the rankings. He hadn't been out of the top four since May 2005.

Novak Djokovic has a commanding hold on the No. 1 spot in the rankings with 12,960 points. He's been No. 1 for 67 weeks overall, including the last 14.

Roger Federer is second with 10,265 points. As impressive as Nadal's string in the top tier of the rankings is, Federer hasn't been ranked outside the Top 4 since June 2003.

Andy Murray has 8,480 points for third place with David Ferrer (6,865) in fourth and Nadal's fifth-place total is 5,400 points.

Tomas Berdych is sixth with 4,575 points, followed by No. 7 Juan Martin del Potro (4,210) and eighth-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (3,555). Janko Tipsarevic has 3,180 points for ninth and Richard Gasquet comes in 10th with 2,720.

There were a relatively few points to be gained last week in Davis Cup play. The teams advancing to the quarterfinals are: Canada, Italy, Serbia, the United States, France, Argentina, Kazakhstan and the defending champion Czech Republic.

There are three ATP events this week, including the tournament in Chile. Berdych, Tipsarevic and Gasquet are entered in the Open Sub de France and No. 12-ranked Marin Cilic is the top seed for the PBZ Zagreb Indoors in Croatia.