Daniil Medvedev set for No. 1 in ATP ranking shake-up, Novak Djokovic to fall, Rafael Nadal to No. 4 - Eurosport (2024)

No Novak Djokovic. No Rafael Nadal. No Roger Federer. No Andy Murray.

On June 13, when the points from last year’s French Open drop from the ATP computer rankings, it will be the first time since November 2003 that none of the ‘Big Four’ occupy the first two spots.

Daniil Medvedev will instead return to world No. 1 for the second time this season, while Alexander Zverev will hit a career-high No. 2 in the standings.

There’s also more change below, and more change ahead with no ranking points at Wimbledon and Djokovic potentially unable to play any tournaments in the United States.

The headline news next Monday will be Medvedev returning to the top of the rankings.

The Russian occupied top spot for three weeks earlier this year, the third-shortest stint in ATP Tour history behind Carlos Moya (two weeks) and Patrick Rafter (one week). Medvedev is determined that this time he will stay top for longer.

"I for sure want to be there more than two weeks," he said. "I want to try to do it. It's not something that pressures me, because I'm really happy I managed to do it. I remember Indian Wells. I lost, didn't like my match against Gael [Monfils]. That's when I knew I was going to lose the No. 1 spot.

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"I went on the internet and looked, just like this on Google, who were the shortest No. 1 players in the world, and the first I saw Pat Rafter being there for one week, and he's an absolute legend, and Carlos Moya was somewhere there.

"It's something nobody can take away from me. Not that many players could take it while they play tennis. It's a great motivation to try to come back there."

Medvedev’s hopes may be complicated by the fact he is not allowed to play in the UK this summer after the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, he still has a full grass schedule, starting with the Libema Open this week, Halle (an ATP 500 like Queen’s) and then Mallorca.

Still No. 1 for a record-extending 373rd week, Djokovic is soon set to fall to his lowest position since October 2018 as a consequence of not defending his Australian Open title (minus 2,000 points) and losing in the French Open quarter-finals as defending champion (minus 1,640 points).

And there is worse to follow.

He will not be able to defend his 2,000 points at Wimbledon after the tournament was stripped of ranking points by the ATP in response to its ban on Russian and Belarusian players. Then there is uncertainty over whether the Serb can play the US Open and any lead-up events in America as travellers there still need to be vaccinated to enter. Djokovic made the US Open final last year so losing those 1,200 points would be another big hit to his ranking.

With his victory at the French Open, Nadal is back up to world No. 4 above Stefanos Tsitsipas, who drops to No. 5 following his last-16 exit. Tsitsipas will be looking to accrue some points as he returns at the Stuttgart Open this week while there is uncertainty over when Nadal will play next, although he has said he is keen to feature at Wimbledon as he looks to win his third Grand Slam title of the year.

As he missed most of the second half of last year with injury Nadal does not have many points dropping from his ranking in the coming months. If Zverev is out for a substantial amount of time with the injury sustained against Nadal at Roland-Garros, then that could also pave the way for the 22-time Grand Slam champion to move up the rankings.

Tsitsipas will only stay at world No. 5 for one week before he falls to No. 6, his lowest ranking since March 2021. The Greek will drop his points from making last year’s French Open final on June 13 while Ruud boosted his position by making the 2022 final in Paris.

Ruud will jump to world No. 6 this week, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev, and will then move ahead of Tsitsipas next Monday.

Marin Cilic and Holger Rune are two of the big movers this week in the top 50 after their runs at the French Open.

Cilic made the semi-finals, losing to Ruud, and is up six places to world No. 17, while 19-year-old Rune is up 12 places to No. 28 in the rankings.

Roger Federer’s continued inactivity means he drops to No. 50 in the rankings.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion will fall even further in the coming weeks as he loses points from last year’s French Open and Halle in 2019. When Halle goes from the ranking on June 20 he will only have Wimbledon points against his name and those will be dropping this summer, which will leave Federer without a ranking.

Nadal’s victory has strengthened his position at the top of the Race to Turin standings, which are used to determine who qualifies for the season-ending ATP Tour Finals.

Nadal is on 5,620 points, well clear of second-placed Alcaraz (3,820) and third-placed Tsitsipas (3,670).

Ruud is up to fourth (3,065), ahead of Zverev (2,700), Andrey Rublev (2,280), Felix Auger-Aliassime (2,205) and Medvedev (2,080).

Djokovic is in ninth place with 1,970 points.