Who will be World No.1 if Carlos Alcaraz matches Novak Djokovic’s point tally?
Ranking Dilemma: Alcaraz's Potential ATP Rise and Djokovic's Record-Breaking Week at No.1
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Alcaraz and Djokovic
The 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz is currently world No.2 and reached the semifinals of the Rio Open. Assuming Alcaraz wins the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro this week, an intriguing scenario could arise next week as both he and Novak Djokovic, ranked No. 1, would have an identical 6,980 ranking points.
The Spaniard reached the top spot last year after winning the U.S. Open for the first time. By doing so, he also became the youngest player to reach world No. 1. However, injuries hampered his chances to play in the recently concluded Australian Open. Novak won the Major and it brought him back to claim the top spot. Unfortunately, due to Novak’s hamstring injury, he missed out on playing a few ATP tournaments recently.
During the Serbian’s absence, Alcaraz came back from injury and won the Argentina Open. Currently, he is playing in the Rio Open and has reached the semis comfortably. If he wins the Rio Open, then both players would have equal points. If Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have an identical number of ranking points, who would become the top-ranked player, and what would be the process to determine their ranking?
The ATP employs a tie-breaking procedure wherein if two players have an equal number of ranking points, the player with the highest accumulated points from Grand Slams, ATP Finals, and mandatory Masters 1000 events (excluding Monte Carlo) would be ranked higher. Hence, Djokovic would remain in the top spot while Alcaraz stays at number two in the ATP rankings.
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Novak Djokovic stays at the top despite Carlos Alcaraz’s result at Rio
Djokovic’s ranking points would primarily be composed of the following events, totaling 5,820 points out of his total of 6,980 points. While Alcaraz’s ranking points would primarily be composed of the following events, totaling 5,090 out of his total of 6,980 points. The Spaniard plays ATP 250 tournaments relatively more which is why he came close in points to Djokovic.
If Djokovic and Alcaraz were still tied after the initial tie-breaking procedure, the ATP would resort to two more methods to resolve the tie: first by considering the number of events played, and second by looking at the highest number of points earned in a single tournament. Interestingly, had there been ranking points awarded at Wimbledon in 2022, Djokovic would have pulled ahead of the rest of the field (by earning 2,000 points), while Alcaraz would have earned just 180 points?
Hence, by next week, Djokovic will secure his 378th week at the top of the ATP rankings, further extending his record for the most weeks at No. 1 in ATP history. The player with the second-highest number of weeks at No. 1 is Roger Federer, with a total of 310 weeks. Moreover, Djokovic is set to surpass Steffi Graf’s record of 377 weeks at the top of the rankings across both ATP and WTA history.
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Santhosh Tenneti
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