Novak Djokovic is about to lose the leadership of the ATP ranking again. At the beginning of the year, the Serbian tennis player had to give up number one to Daniil Medvedev. Thanks to the final of the Australian Open, the Russian was able to take first place for the first time in his career.
However, the 2021 US Open winner’s joy was short-lived. After just under a month, the backlash struck and the Serbian champion regained a position he had defended for 373 weeks. However, with his defeat in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, Novak Djokovic was deprived of the points that he had earned thanks to his victory the previous year.
Thus, the two-time French Open winner is not only forced to relinquish first place, but he also falls outside the top 2 for the first time in four years. Indeed, since 2018 Novak Djokovic has not been outside the top two places in the world rankings.
2017 was a difficult year for the Serbian: decisions about his team led him to a crisis, to the point of not winning a Grand Slam title since 2011. However, in early 2018 the old look seemed to come back, with the return of Marian Vajda as manager.
This “new” change fueled Djokovic’s comeback, both in number of Grand Slam titles and in reference to ATP ranking. He started the year as number 14 in the world, but the progression of the months and the tournaments lost took him to 22nd place in the ranking.
However, the Wimbledon tournament changed the fortunes of the Serbian champion: his victory against Kevin Anderson triggered Djokovic’s comeback.
Djokovic will aim to do well in the upcoming Wimbledon
Zapata Miralles, who was sought after by the Spanish press following his exploits at Roland Garros, recounted a chance meeting with World No.
1 Novak Djokovic in the locker room. “I had the opportunity to speak with Novak [Djokovic] in the locker room, I had never exchanged a word with him, only he confronted me speaking in English and I got a little caught up, I got nervous (laughs),” Zapata Miralles said.
“It was five minutes of talk, he was interested in me, he congratulated me, he asked me about Valencia, super nice. The next day he saw us training and immediately came to greet us, as if he were a lifelong colleague (laughs),” Zapata Miralles said.
Djokovic will aim to do well in the upcoming Wimbledon as his participation in the US Open is still a doubt, because of Covid-19 regulations in the US.
Source: Tennis World USA