Sports Desk, AnyTV, New Delhi
Published by: Shaktiraj Singh
Updated Mon, 28 Feb 2022 01:25 PM IST
Summary
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has become only the fifth player in the last 18 years to reach the first position in the tennis rankings. Before him, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have been occupying the first position.
Daniil Medvedev
– Photo : Social Media
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Expansion
Daniil Medvedev of Russia has become the number one tennis player in the world. He has placed behind Novak Djokovic at number one. 26-year-old Medvedev is technically very capable and he plays in his own style instead of playing the traditional way. Medvedev has ended the nearly two-decade long reign of four big players in the tennis world. For the last 18 years, only four players had topped the tennis rankings. Now Medvedev has become the fifth player after 2004, who has come first in the tennis rankings.
Medvedev is the 27th player in tennis history to reach the first position. He currently has 8,615 points and is 150 points ahead of Novak Djokovic (8,465). Djokovic has been the world number one player for a record 361 weeks and 86 consecutive weeks. On November 7, 2016, Andy Murray reached the first place in the tennis rankings. Six years later, a new player has reached the first position in the rankings.
how to become number one tennis player
Medvedev has been performing consistently for the past few years. Earlier this year, he reached the final of the Australian Open. Earlier in 2021, he won the US Open. It was the first Grand Slam of his career. Apart from this, he also won the ATP Masters 1000 Trophy and the Nitto ATP Finals. Apart from this, he has made it to the finals of three other major tournaments. He has also got the reward of consistently good performance in the rankings.
Former number one tennis player Djokovic did not play in the Australian Open. Djokovic then went down to Jiri Wesley 6-4, 7-6 at the Dubai Tennis Championships. His defeat had fixed Medvedev’s capture of number one.
Third Russian player to reach number one position in tennis rankings
Medvedev will be the third Russian player to reach the first ranking. Earlier Yevgeny Kafilnikov (1999) and Marat Safin (2000-01) had done this. Apart from the Big Four (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Andy Murray), the last player to finish at number one was Andy Roddick.
Big Four’s reign ended after 18 years
Roddick reached the first position on November 3, 2003 and was dropped from the top on February 2, 2004. Then Roger Federer became number one. After this, in the last 18 years, only Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray have occupied the number one position.