USA Today via Reuters
Sep 12, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; (L-R) Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Daniil Medvedev of Russia celebrate with the finalist and championship trophies, respectively, after their match in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
USA Today via Reuters
Sep 12, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; (L-R) Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Daniil Medvedev of Russia celebrate with the finalist and championship trophies, respectively, after their match in the men’s singles final on day fourteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
Novak Djokovic suffered an unexpected loss in Dubai Championship against Czech international Jiri Vesely. It created a huge buzz around the Tennis world, as Djokovic lost his World no. 1 title to Daniil Medvedev after an astonishing 361 weeks.
Djokovic made his season debut in Dubai, following the Australian Open saga. After winning the first 2 matches comfortably, Novak was against 28-years old Jiri, who already had a triumph over the Serb. Match started well but started to turn in Jiri’s favor from midway of the 1st set.
This loss shuffled the top of the ranking as Medvedev climbed up to the Top position, and Djokovic was down to 2nd spot. Novak sportingly wished both the beneficiaries of his loss the best and singled out Daniil for a “well deserved” top spot.
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Congratulations also to a very deserving @DaniilMedwed, who will now become world number 1. 👏🙌
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) February 24, 2022
Jiri Vesely advanced to the semifinals for the 1st time and will face 6th seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Consistency of Daniil Medvedev rewarded with top spot
Daniil Medvedev is one of the brightest young stars shining in the Tennis Galaxy. He made his ATP Debut in 2015 and was recognized as a promising talent right from the start. He bettered his performances every season as he managed 1st Finals appearance in 2017 and won a title in 2018.
2019 was the best season for him as he then reached 6 ATP finals and won 4 of them. This allowed him to break into the top 10 in July 2019 and end the season in the top 5 with the US Open Finals appearance. He defeated some of the established stars like Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Novak Djokovic in that season.
via Reuters
Tennis – ATP Finals – Pala Alpitour, Turin, Italy – November 21, 2021 Russia’s Daniil Medvedev looks dejected after loosing his final match against against Germany’s Alexander Zverev REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
After another productive season, 2021 proved to be the focus season for 25-year old Russian. He reached his 2nd Majors finals in Australia and Won US Open title to end the season as World no. 2. With 1 grand slam, 13, 2 majors Finals, ATP Finals Championship, and 12 other ATP Titles, the career graph kept on moving upwards for Daniil.
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In 2022 also he reached his 4th Grand Slam final down under but lost to Rafael Nadal in 5 sets. The difference of points was down to 440 points before the Mexican opened. Now he is playing his best tennis yet again and booked a “rematch” with Nadal in the semi-finals of the Mexican Open.
Novak Djokovic’s time frame to regain the top spot
Serbian Megastar and 20-time Grand Slam winner had proved his mind in his career. Before losing out his 1st ranking, he set a record of 361 weeks to stay at the top. Just 16 weeks short of Steffi Graf’s record.
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It will be very hard for a 34-year old player to regain his position. His participation is limited due to various Vaccination rules around the globe. After his exit from the Dubai championship, his next competitive tour is yet to be confirmed.
