Monday, March 20, 2023

Djokovic returns to top spot; Nadal slips to sixth in ATP rankings

After winning his 10th Australian Open title, Novak Djokovic returned to the No. 1 spot in the latest ATP rankings released on Monday.
Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in the final on Sunday and clinched his 22nd Grand Slam title, equalling Rafael Nadal on the list for most Grand Slam crowns on Sunday night.
The Serbian climbed four spots from World No. 5 to seal the top spot, the biggest jump to the top of the men’s tennis summit between two editions of the ATP Rankings in history (since 1973). The 35-year-old dethroned reigning U.S. Open champion Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who is now placed second on the list.
The four-place ascent is a bigger jump than the three-spot climb previously made by Carlos Alcaraz (September 12, 2022), Pete Sampras (September 11, 2000), Andre Agassi (July 5, 1999) and Carlos Moya (March 15, 1999).
If Djokovic remained World No. 1 through the week of February 20, he will tie Stefanie Graf’s record for most weeks as World No. 1 in history (men and women) at 377.
On the other hand, Rafael Nadal dropped from second to sixth place after his second-round loss to USA’s Mackenzie McDonald.
After reaching the second Grand Slam final of his career, Tsitsipas moved up one place and returned to his career-high World No. 3, 875 points behind Djokovic.
Denmark’s Holger Rune reached a new career-high ranking of World No. 9. Last year’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev moved out of the top 10 as he slipped four spots to 12.

Sabalenka back to career-high world no. 2; Rybakina makes top-10 debut

Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka attained her career-high ranking of World No. 2 after winning the Australian Open women’s singles title while runner-up Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan marked her top-10 debut in the latest WTA Rankings released on Monday.
Sabalenka came back from a set down to defeat Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final to win her first Grand Slam title on Saturday. The triumph saw her improve her ranking by 3 spots to number two with 6100 ranking points.
Having paved her way to her second major final with wins over World No.1 Iga Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko, and Victoria Azarenka, reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina took a giant leap of 15 places to sit in tenth place.
Poland’s Swiatek, however, retained her No. 1 spot with 10485 pimts, which is 4385 ranking points ahead of Sabalenka. With her quarterfinal run, Latvia’s Ostapenko jumped five places to 12th while Azarenka climbed eight places to get back in the top 20.
Other players that improved their ranking are Dona Vekic, who is back up to 33, and Linda Fruhvirtova jumped 31 spots to 51.
Naomi Osaka, meanwhile, slipped to 65. Last year’s finalist Danielle Collins dropped 29 spots to be placed 40th.

SourceIANS

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