Novak Djokovic broke the record for spent the most time at number 1 as a male or female professional tennis player, starting his 378th week at No. 1 ATP on Monday, surpassing No. 377 WTA-leading Steffi Graf.
He already held the men’s record, eclipsing Roger Federer’s old ATP standard of 310 weeks in March 2021.
“Obviously, I’m flattered. Extremely, extremely proud and happy for this achievement,” Djokovic said. video posted on social media calling Graf “one of the greatest, most legendary tennis players.”
Following Djokovic and Graf on the all-time best weeks list are Martina Navratilova with 332 and Serena Williams with 319, followed by Federer. Computerized rankings appeared in the 1970s.
Djokovic led the ATP for seven years, another record for men.
The 35-year-old player from Serbia is back in first place this time with Australian Open win in January, bouncing from No. 5 to overtake Carlos Alcaraz. The title was Djokovic’s 22nd Grand Slam title, tying Rafael Nadal for the most titles among men in tennis history.
Djokovic is 12-0 so far in 2023, heading to this week’s tournament in Dubai.
He managed to return to the top of the rankings despite failing to play in several major tournaments in 2022, including the Australian Open and the US Open. because not vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic was able to compete at Melbourne Park this year after Australia relaxed its pandemic-era rules; his status for two key U.S. events starting in March — in Indian Wells and Miami — is still in question, and he asked permission obtain permission to enter the country.
Djokovic also didn’t get any boost from his 2022 Wimbledon championship because no ranking points were awarded there. The ATP and WTA withheld points in response to the All England Club’s decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus from competing as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. It is still unknown if these athletes will be allowed to compete in Wimbledon this year.
Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spaniard who won last year’s US Open, remained in second place on Monday, followed by Australian Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas and two-time runner-up Kasper Ruud. Taylor Fritz moved up two spots to a career-best No. 5, making him the first American in the ATP Top 5 since Andy Roddick in 2009.
Nadal, who hasn’t competed since injuring his left hip flexor in his Australian Open loss, dropped two spots to No. 8 on Monday.
There was no change in the WTA top 10 on Monday, with Iga Swiatek still leading at number 1 and Australian Open champion Arina Sobolenko taking first place. Barbora Krejcikova, 2021 French Open champion, Dubai skyrocketed from 30th to 16th on Saturday.
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis And https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Source: sports.yahoo.com
