‘Best in the World!’ Daniil Medvedev DETHRONES Novak Djokovic to become the New World No.1 in Men’s tennis
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Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev
In his first tournament of the season, Novak Djokovic bowed out of the quarterfinals of the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships to Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely in straight sets 4-6,6-7(4). And with this loss, Djokovic will no longer be the World No.1. Entering this week, stars were in favor of Daniil Medvedev to become the new World No.1, and come February 28, Medvedev will become the new World No.1 in the ATP Rankings.
The Russian will be the 27th player in tennis history to become the World No.1 on the Men’s side. He is also the first player other than the Big 4 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray in almost 18 years to take the top spot. The last player to take the No.1 spot other than the Big 4 was Andy Roddick back in 2003.
After his quarterfinal loss at Dubai, Djokovic now has 8465 points whereas Medvedev, who is yet to play his quarterfinal match at Acapulco, has 8525 points. The Russian could now even extend his lead by almost 500 points over Djokovic if he manages to win the Mexican Open. And with the clay-court swing coming up next in April, Medvedev could notch a handful of points as he didn’t do well last year on clay.
Medvedev’s incredible rise over the last two years
Medvedev has seen a tremendous rise since the end of the 2020 season. He was ranked 6th in the world in October 2020 and ever since then, started climbing up the ranks. He showed amazing form on the indoor hardcourts and won two big titles back-to-back; Paris Masters and the ATP Finals.
He then started the 2021 season on a high, reaching his maiden Australian Open final, and had decent results at the tournaments that followed. He once again had an amazing end to the season where he won his maiden grand slam title at Flushing Meadows and also was the runner-up at Paris Masters and ATP Finals. He finished the year as the World No.2 and was in striking distance of the No.1 spot.
Medvedev used Djokovic’s absence at the 2022 Australian Open to his advantage and defended his points from last year well and a month later, he now has bragging rights to be called the World’s current best tennis player.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)