Novak Djokovic suffers crushing new blow in 19-year first for tennis
Novak Djokovic has officially lost his World No.1 ranking and has slipped down to No.3, with Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev now occupying the top two spots in the ATP rankings.
For the first time since 2003, none of Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer or Andy Murray are in the world's top two.
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With Djokovic losing in the quarter-finals at the French Open - where he was the defending champion - the door opened for Medvedev to regain the top spot after he briefly held it in February.
Djokovic slid from No.1 to No.3 because his points from winning the French Open in 2021 dropped off his record on Monday.
The ATP rankings are based on a player's top 18 tournament results over the preceding 52 weeks (19 if they participated in the ATP Tour Finals).
And the bad news is set to get even worse for Djokovic, who could fall as far as World No.8 after Wimbledon.
Djokovic also won Wimbledon in 2021, meaning he's defending 2000 rankings points at the grass-court grand slam.
But with the ATP tour deciding to strip Wimbledon of rankings points because of its ban on Russian and Belarusian players, Djokovic will lose those 2000 points even if he wins the title.
The 20-time major champion isn't scheduled to play in any of the lead-up events before Wimbledon either, meaning he will miss out on even more points.
Djokovic's grip on the No.1 ranking was weakened by his exclusion from the ATP tour earlier this year due to Covid regulations.
He was deported from Australia before the first grand slam of the year in January, and also missed key ATP 1000 events at Indian Wells and Miami in March.
19-year first for men's tennis after rankings shift
This is the first time since October of 2018 that Djokovic has fallen out of the top two.
With Medvedev moving up to World No.1 and Zverev to a career-best No.2, it marks the first time in 19 years that none of the 'Big 4' are occupying the top two spots.
Nadal remains at No.4 despite winning the season's first two grand slams at the Australian Open and French Open.
The 22-time major champion missed most of the second half of 2021 and part of this year, so he only has 10 tournaments on his 52-week record.
French Open runner-up Casper Ruud has moved up one spot to a career-high No.5.
Federer had a series of knee operations and hasn't played anywhere since Wimbledon last July.
He only has points from four tournaments left on his record and is ranked 68th this week.
Murray climbed 21 places to 48th following his run to the final in Stuttgart, while Medvedev's conqueror Van Rijthoven jumped 99 places from 205 to 106.
The last time none of the 'Big 4' were in the top two was in November of 2003, with Federer at No.3 behind No.1 Andy Roddick and No.2 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Nadal was outside the top 40 and Djokovic - who didn't make his grand slam debut until 2005 - outside the top 500. A week later, Federer would rise to No.2.
In a unique twist of fate, Djokovic is still set to be the No.1 seed at Wimbledon because of Medvedev's ban and Zverev's injury.
Zverev recently underwent surgery on his ankle after suffering torn ligaments in the French Open semi-final against Nadal.
ATP rankings as at June 13
1. Daniil Medvedev 7950 pts
2. Alexander Zverev (GER) 7075
3. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6770
4. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 6525
5. Casper Ruud (NOR) 5050
6. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 4945
7. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 4893
8. Andrey Rublev 4125
9. Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 3895
10. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 3570
with agencies
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