Djokovic Assured To Keep World No. 1 Ranking After Alcaraz’s Shocking

Djokovic was confident of maintaining his world No. 1 ranking after losing to Alcaraz at the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic entered this year’s Australian Open ranked No. 1 in the world, but there was no guarantee he would maintain that position after the tournament.

The Serbian star has been locked in a three-way race for the award for over a year, alongside his biggest rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. Despite having a huge points gap over his two rivals, he needed to win the Australian Open to maintain his top spot two weeks later.

That’s because Djokovic perfectly defended his 2000 rating as the reigning champion. On the other hand, Alcaraz did not participate in last year’s competition and had a defensive score of 0. As a result, Medvedev defended his point in the third round after the 2023 surprise. But Djokovic’s fortunes improved dramatically after Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise loss to Alexander Zverev in the men’s quarter-finals on Wednesday night. The Spaniard needed to improve on Djokovic’s performance at the Australian Open to return to the top spot. Djokovic prefers “better” relationships with younger players than Nadal or Federer

Djokovic prefers “better” relationships with younger players than Nadal or Federer

Medvedev’s mission was somewhat more complicated. That’s because Djokovic and Alcaraz lost before the semifinals and both had to win. The latter was possible, but Djokovic reached his 48th Grand Slam semifinal, effectively dashing the Russian’s hopes of becoming No. 1 again. Djokovic marked his 409th week as world No. 1 this week, at least 200 more weeks than his nearest rival among active players, Rafael Nadal. Now, Djokovic is looking forward to reaching his total of 410 with a week to go from the Australian Open final. This also makes sense as it will be accumulated 100 more weeks than the next ATP player on the list. This is retired legend Roger Federer, who was ranked No. 1 on the ATP Tour for 310 weeks. ‘Not a slave to habit’: Djokovic explains having certain things is ‘very important’