By Nick Georgandis

Rafael Nadal's name looks odd enough next to that "No. 3" mark in the ATP rankings, so just imagine how odd No. 4 or even possibly No. 5 will look in the weeks ahead.

Since first becoming No. 2 in the world on July 25, 2005, the reigning French Open champion has been ranked first or second for 345 of a possible 368 weeks.

He fell to No. 3 following Roger Federer's victory at Wimbledon in early July, and stands to tumble significantly more following his Wednesday announcement that he has withdrawn from the US Open field due to injury.

Nadal has 180 points to defend from Cincinnati last year, and another 1,200 for his appearance in the US Open final -- 1,380 points guaranteed to disappear from his total, which will leave him at 7,515 come Labor Day.

Andy Murray is the obvious choice to gain from Nadal's injury, sitting No. 4 in the world with 8,200 points, but he'll need to play at his gold-medal winning level to move past Nadal.

Murray won Cincinnati last year and reached the US Open semifinals, meaning he has 1,720 points of his own to defend.

The dark horse in this field who might send Nadal falling to No. 5 is fellow Spaniard David Ferrer, who currently holds that position with 5,455 points.

Even with Nadal's drop, Ferrer would still be more than 2,000 points behind his countryman, but consider that Ferrer has a meager 270 points to defend in the upcoming 1,000 and 2,000-point fields, and could move up quickly with strong efforts.

(Photo via Aussie Open FB)