Russian Daniil Medvedev has officially become the first ranked player in the world outside the “Big Four” since 2004, following the ATP classification issued today (Monday), according to Agence France-Presse.
Despite losing the semi-finals of the Acapuloco tournament once morest Rafael Nadal when he failed to avenge his dramatic fall once morest the Spaniard in the Australian Open final at the beginning of the year in five sets, Medvedev took advantage of the Serbian Novak Djokovic’s exit from the quarter-finals of the Dubai tournament to remove him from his throne.
The deprivation of Djokovic from defending his title in Melbourne and the two thousand points following his deportation for not receiving the vaccine once morest the Corona virus, had a strong impact on the change in the top of the pyramid, which was headed by a player for the first time from outside the list of the Big Four (Djokovic, Nadal, Swiss Roger Federer and British Andy Murray). Since the American Andy Roddick in early 2004.
Medvedev finished 79 consecutive weeks in first place for Djokovic, becoming the 27th player in history to top the world rankings and the third Russian following Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin.
Djokovic, who spent a total of 361 weeks at the top of the classification (a record), slipped to second place, behind German Alexander Zverev, who was eliminated from the singles competitions in Acapulco following hitting the referee’s chair in a doubles match, while Nadal advanced to fourth place at the expense of Greek Stefanos. Tsitsipas.
With his third title and 15th win in a row, Nadal, 35, made the best start to the year of his career. His last loss dates back to early August once morest South African Lloyd Harris in the Washington tournament, before he retired for the remainder of last year due to injury.
The only entry into the top ten club was for Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, who reached the semi-finals of the Dubai Tournament before losing once morest Russian Andrey Rublev, who won the title to advance to sixth place, while Italian Yannick Sener came out to eleventh place.
In the women’s category, the Czech Barbora Krajicekova snatched the runner-up from Belarusian Arina Sabalenka, who was eliminated from the quarter-finals of the Qatar Tournament, while the winner of the Polish title, Iga Švientek, advanced four places to fourth, and Australian Ashleigh Barty remained comfortable in the lead.
Ranking of the top ten players:
1- Russian Daniil Medvedev 8615 points (+1)
2. Novak Djokovic 8465 (-1)
3- German Alexander Zverev 7515
4- Spaniard Rafael Nadal 6515 (+1)
5- Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6445 (-1)
6- Russian Andrey Rublev 5000 (+1)
7- Italian Matteo Berrettini 4928 (-1)
8- Norwegian Casper Rod 3915
9- Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 3883
10- Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 3496 (+1)
Ranking of the top ten players:
1- Australian Ashleigh Barty 7980 points
2- Czech Barbora Krajikova 5073 (+1)
3- Belarusian Arina Sabalenka 4853 (-1)
4- Polish IGA شفيewentek 4776 (+4)
5- Estonian Annette Kontaveit 4721 (+2)
6- Spanish Paula Padusa 4510 (-2)
7- Greek Maria Sakkari 4436 (-1)
8- Czech Karolina Pliskova 4242 (-3)
9- Spanish Garbine Mugurosa 3235
10- Tunisian Anas Jaber 3065
