In the wonderful, nonsensical world of the professional tennis rankings, losing the French Open final moves you past the guy who won it. 

That was the case Sunday as the post-French Open ATP rankings were released with David Ferrer, thoroughly thrashed by Rafael Nadal earlier that day in the Roland Garros final, jumped over Nadal in the rankings.

This of course, happened because of the "defense of points". Nadal gained none by "simply" repeating as champion, defending his 2,000 points, while Ferrer, a semifinalist in 2012, gained 480 by reaching the final this year, enough to surpass the eight-time French Open champion in the rankings and reclaiming No. 4.

Ferrer is now within striking distance of No. 3 Roger Federer - trailing him by just 420 points. Since Federer won Wimbledon last summer, the odds are decent that Ferrer could move to No. 3 for the first time in his career.

Semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga moved up to No. 7, bypassing Juan Martin Del Potro, and quarterfinalist Tommy Haas rose three spots to No. 10. Haas, 35, is just 225 points behind No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka. Haas was last ranked in the Top 10 on October 29, 2007.

The biggest move inside the Top 50 came from Serbia's Viktor Troicki, who rose 13 spots to No. 44 after reaching the fourth round with an upset of Marin Cilic.

France's Gael Monfils, fighting his way back from injury and generating plenty of local support after his first-round upset of No. 6 Tomas Berdych, rose 14 spots to No. 67. Monfils has climbed 52 spots since May 13.

 

WTA

In the women's rankings, Victoria Azarenka reclaimed the No. 2 spot from Maria Sharapova after the 2012 champion fell in the final to Serena Williams on Saturday.

Azarenka, who lost to Sharapova in Thursday's semifinals, now leads the Russian by 210 points.

Williams, who now has won three of the last four majors, has opened up a lead just short of 4,000 points on Azarenka.

Also in the Top 10, Maria Kirilenko rose to No. 10 for the first time in her career, following new No. 7 Angelique Kerber, No. 8 Petra Kvitova (down 1 spot) and No.9 Caroline Wozniacki (up one spot).

Italy's Roberta Vinci, 30, rose four spots to No. 11, and Ana Ivanovic jumped two places to No. 12.

Australia's Sam Stosur dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time since August of 2011, sliding five spots to No. 14. 

First-round French Open casualty Venus Williams fell three spots to No. 35. Williams was last ranked in the Top 10 in January of 2011.

The biggest plunge in the top went to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who tumbled 20 spots to No. 46.

Kanepi lost in the second round a year after reaching the quarterfinals. 

 

 

 

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