Daniil Medvedev’s defeat at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome outlined the fight for the 1st position in the ATP ranking. An affair that now belongs only to Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. The Serbian champion has his destiny in his hands: he can remain ATP No.1 if he reaches at least the final of the tournament. Below we analyze what could happen.
Medvedev mathematically can no longer reach first place in the men’s world rankings after the Roland Garros, because he would have had to reach at least the final in Rome to then win the Roland Garros.
The fight will only be between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. The situation is very simple: Novak Djokovic has 2,000 points to defend in the rankings in Paris, Jannik Sinner only has 45 which are those from the second round of last edition.
So, Novak Djokovic will have to reach the Roland Garros final to remain ATP No.1. If Nole does not achieve this result, Jannik Sinner will be ATP No.1 after the Roland Garros even if he decides not to play the Paris Slam.
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Sinner also has another chance to become world number 1: if Djokovic reaches the final Sinner should also reach the final. Ultimately and in other words, Sinner will be number 1 in the world ranking if Novak Djokovic does not reach the final at Roland Garros. Even not playing. If Sinner decides to play he would become the new world number 1 by reaching the final even if the tournament was won by Djokovic.
The elimination of Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome has clearly simplified the race for number 1. At a time when Jannik Sinner is in the pits treating his bad hip in Turin and Novak Djokovic, eliminated early in the Foro Italico from the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, is certainly not in the best moment of his career, the fight for the world number 1 after the Roland Garros is limited only to these two players.
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With the very particular situation that Sinner could become world number 1 even by not playing in Paris given that the Serbian has to defend the 2,000 points of last year’s victory in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower while Jannik Sinner has a decidedly lighter bill given that he had been eliminated in the second round by the German Daniel Altmaier in five sets.