Rafael Nadal will hit shocking 20-year rankings low if he doesn't play at French Open

Should Rafael Nadal not defend his French Open crown by not competing at all, he will reach a 20-year ATP rankings low.

Rafael Nadal will drop outside the top 100 of the ATP rankings should he not compete at the French Open next month.

The Spaniard is dealing with ongoing injury problems that have seen him withdraw from a number of tournaments, most recently, the upcoming Madrid Open. That's despite the fact that he was initially expected to be out for only eight weeks after first sustaining a hip injury at the Australian Open in January.

With Nadal himself stating that the situation is not what he expected and that he can't work out what he needed to do in order to compete, the signs don't look too promising.

For now, there's still a chance he can compete at the Italian Open before the French Open commences on May 28. But should he miss both events entirely, he will drop to a 20-year low in the ATP rankings.

It was only last month that the 22-time Grand Slam winner dropped outside the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in 18 years. However, should he not compete at the French Open entirely, he will drop outside the top 100 for the first time since May 2003.

Nadal is currently No. 14 in the rankings with 2,715 points, but will lose 180 points by missing Madrid. He will lose another 90 if he doesn't compete in Rome and having won the French Open last year, he'll lose 2,000 points if he doesn't compete in Paris. He'd then be on 445 points that would place him around the 130th position in the current rankings.

Even if he does play at the French Open with no prior clay preparation, there is also a chance of Nadal dropping out of the top 100. In order to avoid that, he would have to make the fourth round at Roland Garros at the very least.

Here is the points distribution for the French Open:

First round – 10 points
Second round – 45 points
Third round – 90 points
Fourth round – 180 points
Quarter-final – 360 points
Semi-final – 720 points
Finalist – 1,200 points
Winner – 2,000 points

Hopefully, it doesn't need to come to that at all and Nadal gets back to full health sooner rather than later — tennis is certainly better when he's fit and firing.