Despite a week off, Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic is back in the ATP Tour's top 10

Tennis rankings are often as much about what players' opponents do – or don't do – in any given week as they are about what the players themselves do.

Rather than play any of the three Tour events on the schedule, Canadian Milos Raonic trained in Mallorca last week with coach Carlos Moyá, preparing for the upcoming ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid, Spain.

But despite being idle, he made a small but noteworthy jump in the new rankings that will become official Monday.

The 25-year-old from Thornhill, Ont. is back in the top 10 for the first time since late last October as Richard Gasquet, who was defending a 2015 title in Estoril, Portugal, didn't play that tournament this past week and withdrew from a larger tournament in Barcelona the week prior to that. The resultant loss of ranking points dropped the Frenchman to No. 12, and allowed both Raonic and Marin Cilic of Croatia to move up one spot.

Raonic had been at No. 11.

Among all the players in the top 70 in the rankings, only Roger Federer has fewer tournaments counted in the 52-week rolling calculation. And even then, Federer only has one fewer - 16 to Raonic's 17. Despite the absences due to foot, back and adductor woes, Raonic has been able to maintain his position in the top 15.

The last time he was outside the top 15 was just before the 2013 French Open.

Raonic is the No. 11 seed at the Mutua Madrid Open, and opens his campaign against talented lefthanded Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in the first round Monday.

Also on Monday, countryman Vasek Pospisil plays veteran Czech Radek Stepanek, who came through the qualifying.

The rankings are fairly tightly bunched around Raonic, and the positions could flip flop quite a bit the next few weeks with the number of ranking points on offer at the Masters 1000-level event in Madrid, and a similarly prestigious tournament in Rome next week. All of it plays into the potential seedings at the French Open, which begins May 22.

The players ranked No. 13 through No. 16 on the Monday prior to the start of the event will be placed in the men's singles draw to face one of the top four as early as the fourth round in Paris. Those ranked No. 12 and better can avoid that fate. 

Raonic reached the quarter-finals in Madrid a year ago despite the ongoing issue with a nerve in his foot. He had surgery the following week and didn't return to action until the Queen's Club grass-court event shortly before Wimbledon.

The players behind him have far fewer points to defend this week, while Raonic must equal that 2015 result to have a hope of remaining in the top 10. He could face No. 7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the third round, and No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals if he wins his first two matches.

In his favour are the fact that Cilic is injured and not playing; Gasquet and Goffin both have very difficult draws.

As a fallback, Raonic couldn't even play the Rome tournament a year ago. So anything he does there will only help his case.