TENNIS
What does Djokovic have to do to become the ATP world number one in New York?
The Serbian tennis player is on the verge of snatching back first position in the ATP rankings from Carlos Alcaraz.
Novak Djokovic will regain top spot in the ATP rankings if he wins his first round match at the upcoming US Open, dethroning Carlos Alcaraz who took number one after his Wimbledon win.
Carlos Alcaraz’s seat at the top of the ATP rankings is in jeopardy after Novak Djokovic’s victory in the Cincinnati Masters 1000, who managed to beat the Spaniard in the American tournament. The Serb is now only 20 points behind Alcaraz and has it in his hands to finish the US Open as the new number 1 in the world.
With 1,000 points collected in Cincinnati, Djokovic is second in the ATP ranking with 9,795 points, while Alcaraz, who recently won Wimbledon, arrives at the US Open in first position with 9,815 and barring a Serbian catastrophe, he will give up the number one spot against the tennis player with the most Grand Slams in the history of the sport.
ATP ranking before the US Open:
| Name | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Carlos Alcaraz (SPA) | 9815 | 1st |
| Novak Djokovic (SRB) | 9795 | 2nd |
| Daniel Medvedev (RUS) | 6260 | 3rd |
| Holger Rune (DIN) | 4790 | 4th |
| Casper Ruud (NOR) | 4715 | 5th |
| Jannik Sinner (ITA) | 4645 | 6th |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) | 4580 | 7th |
| Andrey Rublev (RUS) | 4515 | 8th |
| Taylor Fritz (USA) | 3605 | 9th |
| Frances Tiafoe (USA) | 3050 | 10th |
Djokovic’s aim is to recover the number one spot
Novak Djokovic’s greatness within the world of tennis is palpable every time he steps on the court (he has 95 titles in his long and award-filled career as a professional), but also, his time as owner of the throne of the ATP ranking reflects the numbers. Since he was crowned number one in the ranking for the first time on July 5, 2011, at just 24 years of age, the Serb has not stopped racking up records surrounding the table.
Who holds the ATP number one record for most time at the top?
Djokovic is the player with the most weeks at first spot in tennis history (both in men’s and women’s tennis) with 389 weeks, 122 of them consecutive (although far from Roger Federer’s 237), and has finished as number one at the end of the year on seven occasions. With this new milestone from in February of this year, he unseated Steffi Graf from the historical top spot, who had accumulated 377 weeks at the head of the women’s ranking between 1987 and 1997.
After the latest Masters 1,000, Djokovic wants to continue eating up titles and adding to his his record: in New York, he will seek his fourth US Open and recover his number 1 title, to become, for the eighth time, the undisputed leader of the ATP ranking.