Novak Djokovic lost any chance of defending his Australian Open title, and now he’s close to his lost No. 1 ATP ranking.
The Serbian was shocked by the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely, ranked No. 123 within the world, on Thursday within the semifinal of the Dubai Open. The loss guarantees that the No. 2-ranked Daniil Medvedev will have more points than Djokovic within the next ATP rankings, ending his reign.
Danil Medvedev won the first round of the event. The Russian lost to Benoit Pierre of France in a straight-set. With this, Medvedev has a chance to overtake Novak Djokovic and move to the top of the world rankings.
Meanwhile, unexpected events also happened in the hall. Alexander Zverev has been ruled out of the men’s doubles due to his poor conduct in winning the men’s doubles match.
Competitive tennis tournaments are held throughout the year. The Acapulco Open is taking place in Mexico after the Australian Open. Hardcourt with the participation of favorites. However, the topic of discussion at this year’s event is the loss of the number one position of the world’s best star Novak Djokovic.
Due to Vaccination complications at the Australian Open, Djokovic reached the tennis court in practice but did not get down to the main fight. So his dream of winning the title once again was not fulfilled. But Djokovic is going to face a different challenge this time. Danil Medvedev is one of the contenders for the Mexican Open title. The Russian star will be able to make his name in the list of world champions after winning the title of the event.
However, Joko has not stopped challenging his position. On the one hand, Joko’s target is to win the Dubai Open, on the other hand, Medvedev’s dream of winning the Mexico Open title. Whoever will win, will be at the top of the rankings.
Star player Alexander Zverev faced Brazilian Marcelo Mello on the third day of the Acapulco Open. In doubles, the British-Finn pair lost 6-2, 4-6 in the game and the players behaved cheaply. After getting into an argument with the umpire at one stage of the match, Zverev verbally abused the umpire.
Zverev then hit the umpire’s chair several times with a tennis bat. When the situation got out of control, the umpire withdrew Zverev from the match. He may have to face more complications due to his unprofessional behavior.
Daniil Medvedev will take his spot because the top-ranked male in tennis next week once the new standings are published. It symbolizes the departure from an 18-year period of dominance, where the No. 1 position was held exclusively by Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray. The last time a special player held the highest spot was Andy Roddick in 2004.
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Throughout the week, Djokovic has been gracious when asked about the likelihood of relinquishing his top ranking, but this is often a troublesome end in his first tournament since his deportation from Australia. He had not lost to a player outside of the highest 100 since 2018 when he was coming back from elbow surgery.
Djokovic leaves Dubai with a grim immediate future thanks to his decision to not take any Covid vaccine. Earlier within the week, he conceded that “as of today” he cannot enter the USA so as to compete in Indian Wells and Miami next month. His next appearance rests entirely on the Covid entry laws of the countries the tour heads through.
“I need the match play. I didn’t have many matches at all last few months. Yeah, I mean, let’s see. Obviously, as I said, I’ll have to follow the situation, see how it goes. Wherever I get an opportunity to play, I will. Hopefully, that will be soon,” said Djokovic, smiling.
