Bellucci drops to 69th in the ATP rankings.
Brazil's best tennis player now occupies his worst ranking in three and a half years.
CBT - Monday's ranking confirmed the fall of Thomaz Bellucci from São Paulo, who saw the points related to his semifinal appearance at the Madrid Masters 1000 last year drop, causing him to lose 29 places in the ATP ranking. Now, the left-hander from Tietê occupies the 69th position, a place he hasn't been since the last week of August 2008.
At his worst ranking in over three and a half years, Bellucci will face a tough challenge to begin his recovery in Madrid. In his opening match, he faces Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who is riding high after finishing second in Estoril. An even tougher match may come in the round of 16, where the Brazilian is likely to face Swiss player Roger Federer.
A little further down the list, João “Feijão” Souza from São Paulo, who remains the number 2 player in Brazil, went against the trend of Bellucci and climbed 14 places. Even so, he failed to return to the top 100 and appears in 102nd position, just 23 points behind Slovakian Martin Klizan, who is 100th on the list.
Four other Brazilian representatives appear in the top 200, and among them, only Rogério Silva from São Paulo did not lose ground compared to last week's list, maintaining his 121st place in the ranking. Ricardo Mello from Campinas comes in fourth in the country, one position lower, now as 142nd in the world.
Júlio Silva is the fifth Brazilian, in 149th place, closely followed by fellow São Paulo native Thiago Alves, ranked 156th in the world. Like Mello, both are playing in the Rio Quente Challenger this week, where they are looking to accumulate points to improve their ranking next week.