Athletistic/Tennis. Djokovic’s Novak failed to win an 11th Australian Open title last month when he lost in the semi-final to Jannik Sinner in four sets. However, the Serbian continues to occupy the position of first racket in the world, despite the fact that he is not in the best shape. It will still take a herculean effort from his opponents to dislodge him from the top.

Last year, the 36-year-old tennis player faced strong opposition from his younger rival Carlos Alcaraz to fight for the top spot in the ATP rankings. Although the Serb started the year as number one, he lost the top spot to the Spaniard three times in March, May and June.

Djokovic finally regained his position as world number one following his fourth career triumph at the US Open in September, having led the ATP rankings for 24 weeks since. The 24-time TBS winner spends a record 413th week as world number one.

The Serbian currently has an ATP ranking of 9855 points, which is significantly higher than that of his top four colleagues – Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner.

Djokovic also only defends 495 points before the start of the French Open in late May. Alcaraz, Medvedev and Sinner defend 3455, 3370 and 1845 points over the same period, which leaves them practically no chance of reaching first place in the ranking.

Djokovic accumulated over 6,000 ATP ranking points between May and December

However, after Roland Garros, it will be more and more difficult for Djokovic. This year, the Serbian will defend his title, which means 2000 points are at stake. Additionally, he scored 2000, 1200 and 1000 points at the US Open, Wimbledon and Cincinnati respectively.

Carlos Alcaraz, for his part, is also defending a lot of points at the end of the season. He scored 4,000 points from May to September.

Based on this, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have a better chance of becoming world number one this season than Alcaraz. The Russian and the Italian defended 2290 and 2045 points respectively over the allotted period.

Jannik Sinner in particular could end up causing problems for Djokovic if he continues the form he had at the Australian Open. The 22-year-old tennis player has won all 12 matches this year and, before that, he performed well in the 2023 ATP Finals.

But next month the Serbian will play at the Indian Wells Masters for the first time since 2019. So he can earn another 1000 points and increase his lead over his pursuers. Additionally, Novak did not win any of the three Masters-level clay court tournaments last year. If he manages to win at least one, his opponents will have virtually no chance of getting the Serb.

But if Djokovic fails unexpectedly, only at the end of September he could lose the top spot in the rankings. By then, the Serb will likely be 500 weeks away from world number one, a feat unimaginable only a few years ago.

Vyacheslav Gorbachev/Athletistic


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