Federer, winner of a record 16 grand slams was defeated by Czech Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon. Berdych lost the finals to give the title to Nadal who won for the second time on Sunday.

Federer lost in the quarterfinals at the French Open in June, breaking a record sequence of 23 consecutive semifinal or better appearances in grand slams going back to Roland Garros in 2004. 

Serbian Novak Djokovic, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and was defeated by Berdych, is the new world number two. 

Federer was world number three way back on November 10 2003, after which he went on to claim 15 grand slams as he opened his Grand Slam account with a Wimbledon titke the same year.

The 28-year-old first reached world number one on Feb. 2 2004, holding the position until August 2008 when Nadal replaced him as he lost in Wimbledon as well as French Open.

Federer then reclaimed the top spot in July 2009 as he won his sixth Wimbledon and the French Open earlier the same year. But Nadal riding high on his game after making history by claiming all the major clay court titles snatched his numero uno status this year.  

American Pete Sampras holds the record for time spent at number one with 286 weeks, just one more than Federer.