Djokovic Loses Number 1 Ranking in Men’s Tennis

Obviously, the news in Ukraine has dominated the world’s headlines for the past few days, and for good reason.  

However, there is some other news going on in the world. And in a bit of levity, I will briefly turn my attention on this blog page to sports. In this case, namely tennis.  

History was made in recent days. Novak Djokovic will lose the number one ranking, which he has owned for slightly more than two years continuously, without interruption, having reached it on February 3, 2020, just weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic really hit the world full force. He has been the number one ranked man since then.  

That was not the first time that he was ranked number one, of course. In fact, Djokovic has owned the number one ranking for a record number of weeks, longer than any other man in tennis history. Yes, Djokovic has been the number one ranked man in tennis for a total of 361 weeks, which is significantly more than Roger Federer, who previously owned that record with 310 weeks. Just for the record, Nadal has owned the number one ranking for 209 weeks overall, which still places him very high on the list, obviously among the very elites in the sport.  

Combined, Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal have largely owned the number one ranking ever since early 2004, when Federer first ascended to the top ranking in the tennis world, and held onto it for well over four straight years, still easily a record for longest straight period for any many holding the number one ranking. Then Nadal broke through and took it from him. Since then, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have seemingly taken turns with the top overall ranking, although Andy Murray did break through for a bit of time, holding it for 41 weeks and ending 2016 as the number one ranked tennis player in the world.  

At the time, they were known as the Big Four. But really, Murray did not quite rank as high as those other guys in terms of either holding the number one ranking or winning grand slam titles. But the “Big Three” of Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer simply were on another level, one not really seen before in tennis.  

But that era may very well be over. Djokovic just suffered a surprise loss, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships a couple of days ago. Djokovic, of course, missed the Australian Open, generating no shortage of controversy for himself in the process. And he has not played a ton of tennis lately, while others began to enjoy glory. One of them was Rafa Nadal, who of course won the Australian Open, matching Djokovic in terms of having won each of the Grand Slam titles multiple times each, and at least temporarily surpassing Djokovic with 21 Grand Slam championships in his career, moving ahead also of Roger Federer. The “Big Three” had previously been tied at 20 Grand Slam titles apiece, but Nadal right now holds the record.  

And now, Djokovic is seeing someone else at least temporarily put him in the shadow. Again, it might be temporary. Then again, it might not be.  

For the first time since Andy Murray in 2016, someone other than Djokovic, Federer, or Nadal will hold the number one ranking of men’s tennis. In face, even more impressively, it will be the first time since very early in 2004 (February 1st, to be specific) that a man other than those four mentioned earlier will hold the number one ranking. If you are keeping count, that is 18 years, or slightly less than two years shy of being two full decades. Frankly, that is an awful long time for literally every other man but those four to be shut out from reaching that elusive number one ranking. You would have to be at least in your twenties to remember any other man but one of those four holding the number one ranking.  

But that will now change. Russian Daniil Medvedev, who denied Djokovic a calendar Grand Slam by handing him a shocking loss in the US Open Men’s Final, has ascended to the number one ranking. Medvedev will officially be the number one ranked man in tennis on Monday, just days away.              

This would probably be much bigger news had it happened even a few weeks ago, and especially months ago. But given all that seems to be happening in a very busy news week, this historic event in men’s tennis has clearly flown under the radar.