Russia (bbabo.net), - Russian Daniil Medvedev will officially take first place in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings on Monday, February 28th. But congratulations are already accepted. In particular, from Serb Novak Djokovic, who held the lead for 361 weeks, which is a record, and surrendered his post.

Calculations of hypothetical and real chances of Medvedev to lead the rating have been going on for quite some time. How did this eventually become possible? Daniil and Novak participated in parallel ATP-500 tournaments in Acapulco and fought in absentia for the title of the first racket of the world. The layouts were as follows: the tennis player who goes at least a circle further than the opponent will become number one. If both show the same result, then the advantage will be on the side of Medvedev.

And everything was decided in the quarterfinals. Djokovic unexpectedly lost to the 123rd racket of the world, Czech qualifier Jiri Vesela in two sets (4:6, 6:7 (4:7). Thus, the Serb failed to defend the points won in Dubai in 2020. In the live rating Djokovic scored 8465. And in the updated version, Medvedev will have at least 8525. Thus, the Russian player will become the leader of world tennis in singles for the first time since 2001. There is another achievement that goes beyond the national. from the "Big Four" (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray), who managed to lead the ATP rating from February 1, 2004.

But while Medvedev still continues to fight for the title in Acapulco. In the quarter-final, Medvedev defeated Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-2, 6-3. And he went out on the court, knowing about his new status.

- It's not easy to tune in to a match when you get such news throughout the day, - Medvedev quotes the official website of the ATP. - The first goal for me was to win, because I'm here to try to win every match I play. But this is definitely great news.

And which one would be even better? Definitely take revenge on the Spaniard Rafael Nadal for the recent defeat in the Australian Open final, where Daniil was leading 2-0 in sets. Such an opportunity will present itself in the semi-finals in Acapulco. In his match of the 1/4 finals, Rafa defeated the American Tommy Paul. So we are in for an exciting confrontation.

Daniil Medvedev is the third Russian to top the ATP rankings after Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1999 and Marat Safin in 2001

- Playing against Nadal is always a special pleasure, - Medvedev said when his opponent was not yet known exactly. - I have to learn from the best, that is, from Raphael, Roger, Novak, Andy. Whenever they lost in a tough match, they tried to take revenge. Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they didn't. This is what I'm going to try to do if I go out on Rafa.

When the semi-final pair was decided, Nadal immediately noted that he was in for a difficult test: "Everyone knows how difficult the final was in Australia. There will be another battle in Acapulco. He is good and confident in his abilities. But I will also try to play at the highest level." .

Statistics

Which of the Russians topped the world ranking

Evgeny Kafelnikov: was at the top for six weeks - from May 3 to June 13, 1999.

Marat Safin: moved up to the first line three times and spent a total of nine weeks in the rank of the first racket of the world - from 20.11 to 3.12.2000, from 29.01 to 25.02.2001 and from 2.04 to 22.04.2001.

Maria Sharapova: intermittently led the rating for 21 weeks - from 22.08 to 28.08.2005, from 12.09 to 23.10.2005, from 29.01 to 18.03.2007, from 19.05 to 8.06.2008, from 11.06 to 8.07. 2012.

Dinara Safina: without winning a single Grand Slam tournament (unlike her compatriots on this list), she was the first twice and even set the Russian record for continuously being at the top of the ranking (25 weeks) - from 20.04 to 10/11/2009, from 10/26 to 11/01/2009.

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