PARIS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 7: Daniil Medvedev of Russia, Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the Rolex Paris Masters 2021 Final, an ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament at Accor Arena on November 7, 2021 in Paris, France. (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
Novak Djokovic retains World No.1 spot despite missing out on Australian Open in Melbourne.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic will continue at the top of the rankings despite not featuring at all in the Australian Open. The Serbian star was deported because of COVID-19 vaccination rules. Djokovic, who has won 9 Australian Open titles in his career, was given a medical exemption to participate this year. A resulting political saga ended with Djokovic unable to play a single match at the tournament.
The Serb continues to extend his record-breaking reign as the top ranked player as he begins his 358th week as No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Medvedev was in contention to take over from Djokovic, but fell short at the final hurdle in Melbourne. Rafael Nadal overcame all odds to produce a comeback for the ages, winning 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. This also stopped Medvedev from winning back-to-back Grand Slams. The Russian won the 2021 US Open 2021 beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
Rafael Nadal remains in fifth despite winning his 21st Grand Slam title. Italian Matteo Berrettini has leapfrogged Andrey Rublev into sixth. The Italian made the semi-finals at the Australian Open for the first time in his career. Taylor Fritz’s impressive run helped him jump from No. 22 to No. 20 to get into the top 20 for the first time.
However, Medvedev will have a chance to overtake Djokovic in the ATP rankings in February with ATP 500 events to be held in Rotterdam and Dubai. Djokovic is currently on 11,015 points followed by Medvedev at 10,125.
Djokovic leads marginally followed by Medvedev (No. 2), Alexander Zverev (No. 3), Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 4) and Nadal.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer moves closer to dropping out from the top-30. The Swiss plummeted further down to barely remain in the top-30. However, he is just above Carlos Alcaraz, who will surely move up higher in the next few months.
Federer has been inside the top-30 since October 2000. However, he is likely to slide further down, possibly missing half of the 2022 season. The 20-time Grand Slam winner has played only 19 matches since the start of 2020. This has been due to a recurring knee injury.
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