Daniil Medvedev's hilarious admission after taking World No.1 ranking
Daniil Medvedev will be the new World No.1 when the ATP updates its rankings next week - not that the Russian star initially realised.
Novak Djokovic's loss in the quarter-finals in Dubai on Thursday means Medvedev will overtake him at the top of the rankings no matter what happens at his event in Acapulco.
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But speaking after his own quarter-final win later on Thursday, Medvedev admitted he didn't realise Djokovic's loss would mean he was No.1.
"It's not easy, actually, to play a match when you get this (news) during the day," Medvedev said during his on-court interview when asked about becoming World No.1.
"Actually to be honest, Novak's match, I saw that he was losing, but I didn't know that if he loses I'm gonna become No.1.
"I thought I have to do something big here.
"So then when I was receiving all the messages, well I understood that, yeah OK, it's gonna happen."
The Russian advanced to the last four in Mexico with a 6-2 6-3 win over Yoshihito Nishioka.
Medvedev blitzed his way through the first set, converting all three break point chances and winning 80 per cent of his first serve points.
However he was forced to rally back in the second after falling behind 3-1.
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The new World No.1 is eyeing a showdown with Rafa Nadal in the semis of the hard-court tournament.
Medvedev lost to Nadal in the Australian Open final in an epic five-set match last month where the Spaniard rallied after losing the first two sets to win a record 21st grand slam title.
Medvedev said it would be special to face Nadal again.
"Kind of a chance to get my revenge," said Medvedev.
"You have to learn from the best, which is him, Roger (Federer), Novak, Andy (Murray) ... always when they were losing a tough fight, they were trying to get their revenge.
"Sometimes they managed to win, sometimes not, and that's what I'm going to try to do if I play Rafa."
Djokovic's earlier loss to Jiri Vesely means his record reign of 361 weeks atop the ATP rankings is now over.
The Serb has sat in top spot since overtaking Rafael Nadal on February 2, 2020.
Medvedev will become the first man other than Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to hold the No.1 ranking since Andy Roddick in February 2004.
"Unfortunately, it wasn't my day," Djokovic told reporters.
"I congratulate Jiri. He played better.
"He just went for his shots. His serve was big. His whole game was big.
"I expected myself to play on a higher level, for sure. I mean, I can do better. But credit to Jiri."
with AAP
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