Russia (bbabo.net), - Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev for the first time in his career rose to the first line of the world rankings. This happened after the Serbian Novak Djokovic flew out of the ATP-500 tournament in Dubai, unexpectedly losing to the 123rd racket of the world, Czech Jiri Vesela, in two sets (4:6, 6:7 (4:7) in the 1/4 finals) ).
Medvedev, playing at the parallel tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, defeated Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6:1, 6:2 the day before, also making it to the quarterfinals. Tonight, Moscow time, Medvedev met with Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (103). However, already at the time of signing the issue for printing, Medvedev scored 8615 points in the rating. Djokovic, in turn, lost 410 points due to the defeat in Dubai and has just under 8465 to his credit.
Thus, Vesely, who for some time dropped out of the tour due to an accident and suffered COVID-19, and made his way to the main draw in Dubai through qualifications, helped Medvedev.
- Of course, I wanted to set my personal record in the matches against Novak. But I didn’t think that everything would turn out this way,” Vesely said in an interview on the court. - Djokovic will still remain a champion. He spent over 300 weeks at the top of the rankings. On the other hand, a new generation is coming, we will have a new leader. It's good for tennis.
Let's clarify the words of Jiri: Djokovic was in the lead for 361 weeks - more than any other tennis player. Medvedev became the 27th player in history to receive the prestigious status and the first player to top the ATP rankings since February 1, 2004, outside of the Big Four, which included Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. We also note that earlier the title of the first racket was worn only by two Russians - Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin.
Meanwhile, the seventh racket of the world Andrey Rublev made it to the semi-finals in Dubai. Andrey's rival was the American Mackenzie McDonald. The one who knocked out last year's tournament winner Aslan Karatsev in the starting round (7:5, 6:3). The first set from Rublev MacDonald, who occupies the 61st place in the world ranking, took with a score of 6:2. However, then the Russian managed to seize the initiative and turn the tide of the game. As a result, the meeting, which lasted 1 hour 45 minutes, was left for Andrey - 2:6, 6:3, 6:1.
bbabo.Net