Tennis
ATP Rankings: The fight for number 1 ahead of Roland Garros
Not two, but six players will be fighting for first place in the world rankings over the next three weeks. Djokovic and Alkarath are leading the race and are favorites to go to Paris as No. 1 but Medvedev is lurking, as are Rudd, Tsitsipas and Rublev.
Not two, but six players will be battling it out for first place in the world rankings over the next three weeks as the two major Roland Garros warm-ups in Madrid and Rome come to a close.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcarat are leading the race and are the favorites to go to Paris as No. 1 but Daniil Medvedev is lurking, as are Rudd, Tsitsipas and Rublev.
Alcarath, who is defending his title in Madrid this week, is in the hunt for Nole, who has retired from the Spanish Masters. The two have swapped top spots three times this year.
If the 19-year-old Spaniard can defend his title at the Mutua Madrid Open, he is guaranteed to overtake Djokovic as No. 1 when he competes in the Rome Masters next year, regardless of what the Serb does in Rome.
This scenario can also be reversed. If Alcarat wins in Rome after playing at least one game in Madrid, he will return to the top spot on May 22. He needs to collect more than 1,005 points between Madrid and Rome to guarantee his return to world No. 1.
Djokovic loses 360 points in Madrid and another 1,000 in Rome where he is set to defend his title. Alcarat defends 1,000 points in Madrid. So if we subtract her points from both Madrid and Rome, Nole leads the Spaniard by five points.
Pepperstone ATP Rankings with falling points through May 22nd
| Current Points | points fall | Points | |
| 1) Novak Djokovic | 7.135 | 1,360 | 5,775 |
| 2) Carlos Alcarath | 6,770 | 1,000 | 5,770 |
| 3) Daniil Medvedev | 5,240 | 0 | 5,240 |
| 4) Kasper Rudd | 5.210 | 665 | 4,545 |
| 5) Stefanos Tsitsipas | 5.195 | 960 | 4,235 |
| 6) Andrei Rublev | 4,280 | 190 | 4,090 |
Lurking on the 3rd place in the ATP rankings is Danil Medvedev, who is in a favorable position of not defending any points as he missed the relevant part of the season last year due to injury. The Russian has just 180 points to defend against his presence in the “16” of the 2022 French Open.
Medvedev picked up points from both the Madrid and Rome Masters and is just 535 behind Novak Djokovic, a gap that can be closed even in Madrid if the Russian makes it to the final. After all, Medvedev is also the leader of the standings in the ATP race, 700 points behind Nole, which means that he has a lot of momentum towards the top of the world.
Former Roland Garros finalists Kasper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas, along with recent Monte Carlo winner Andrei Rublev, have a chance to rise to world no. 1 on May 22 when it’s over, but Rome have two very big Masters in Spain and Italy do.
Rudd needs to beat Madrid or Rome and reach at least the semifinals to have any hope. Tsitsipas needs to win one of the two and reach the final of the other to put pressure on Djokovic and Alkarath, while Rublev needs to win both tournaments to have the necessary points.
Source: tennis24
Source: sport 24
