LONDON: The 22-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic on Monday became the World No. 1 men’s player for the first time since last June after winning his 10th Australian Open title.
Djokovic returned to World No. 1 in the ATP Rankings after he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to win a record-extending 10th Australian Open title, while doing so the 35-year-old Serbian rose four places to dethrone Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who missed the Australian Open tournament through injury and dropped to second.
After claiming his 10th Australian Open title on Sunday, Djokovic returned to World No. 1 and in doing so made the biggest jump to the top of the men’s tennis mountain between two editions of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in history (since 1973). The Serbian will climb from World No. 5 to World No. 1.
If Djokovic remains World No. 1 through the week of 20 February, he will tie Stefanie Graf’s record for most weeks as World No. 1 in history (men and women) at 377.
In the Australian Open final, the 35-year-old wasn’t the only player vying for the top spot in the world rankings. Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece had a chance to overtake the leader, but he fell short by one victory.
After reaching his second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, the 24-year-old player moved up one rank to No. 3. To advance to the final, the Greek defeated Jannik Sinner and Karen Khachanov, both seeds. Rafael Nadal drop four places to sixth. Andrey Rublev of Russia climbed to a career-best position of fifth.
The 26-year-old Karen Khachanov, who had reached the semi-finals at the US Open in September, played some of his greatest tennis in Melbourne to advance to his second major final. Before being stopped by Tsitsipas, Khachanov defeated seeded Frances Tiafoe, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Sebastian Korda. In 2019, the four-time tour-level champion attained a career-high ranking of No. 8.
The Americans delivered at the Australian Open, with Tommy Paul, Korda and Shelton all reaching the quarter-finals. It marked the first time since 2000 that three American men had advanced to the last eight in Melbourne — and the first time at any Slam since the 2005 US Open. (ANI)