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LONDON, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal is poised to make a strong move in the ATP world rankings with a pair of Masters-level tournaments the next two weeks. Nadal missed the second half of last year's schedule due to a knee injury, meaning he isn't protecting any rankings points the rest of this year. He is 43-3 this year with seven titles and two runner-up finishes in 10 tournaments.
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He did drop a first-round match at Wimbledon to No. 135 Steve Darcis. This week's Rogers Cup in Montreal is his first tournament since then. The ATP's Western and Southern Open is in Cincinnati next week.
Even missing so much time, Nadal, with 6,860 points, is fourth in the rankings and fewer than 300 points behind No. 3 David Ferrer. Catching Andy Murray, whose 8,610 points has him second in the rankings, can't be done in the short run but Murray will be trying to guard a pile of points the rest of the year.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is the defending Rogers Cup champion. His current streak of 40 weeks atop the rankings ties Ilie Nastase for 17th-longest. Djokovic was No. 1 for 53 consecutive weeks from July 2011 through July 2012.
Last week's ATP champions were Juan Martin del Potro in Washington, who holds steady at No. 7 in the rankings, and Marcel Granollers, who jumps 17 places to No. 36 this week after winning the tournament in Kitzbuhel, Austria.
Eight players in the ATP Top 10 are in Toronto this week. No. 5-ranked Roger Federer withdrew last week without giving a reason and eighth-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsongas has been bothered with a knee injury.
The ATP Top 10 with player's name, home country and ranking points:
1. Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 12,040
2. Andy Murray, Great Britain, 8,610
3. David Ferrer, Spain, 7,120
4. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 6,860
5. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 5,515
6. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,865
7. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, 4,660
8. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 3,480
9. Richard Gasquet, France, 3,045
10. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland, 2,915
