Novak Djokovic’s hunt to surpass Roger Federer’s all-time record for the most weeks as world No.1 has taken a blow after the ATP shed light on their ranking freeze policy.
The 17-time grand slam champion has held the top spot in the ATP rankings continuously since January 20th. Although there has been confusion about if Djokovic’s weeks at the top would be counted during the ranking freeze. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic both the ATP and WTA Tour have from their rankings halted from March 16th until at least July 13th. Although that period could be extended.
French newspaper L’Equipe have obtained a statement from the governing body of men’s tennis in which they confirmed that during the suspension Djokovic’s weeks in the top spot will not be counted. This means he will remain at 282 weeks as world No.1 until the sport resumes. He is currently four weeks behind second place Pete Sampras and 28 behind Federer on the all-time list.
“The ranking freeze also applies to other areas, as you can see on [this] page,” a translation read.
Whilst the ATP hasn’t publicly announced their decision, their female counterparts have done so on Tuesday. In a brief update the WTA confirmed that their ranking freeze will also apply to what they call ‘time-sensitive records.’ The announcement was made on the same day the L’Equipe article was published. When the decision to freeze the rankings was made, it was confirmed in a joint-statement by the ATP and WTA.
“The WTA’s rankings freeze also applies to any time-sensitive rankings records and milestones such as weeks at No.1 or weeks in the Top 10.” WTA Insider wrote.
Djokovic currently leads Rafael Nadal by 370 points in the rankings. It has been argued that the decision made by the ATP is only fair considering the circumstances. However, other tennis figures have criticised the policy.
Former player and coach of Andre Agassi Brad Gilbert has argued that the rankings should be treated as if they would be during the off-season. When a player’s weekly position is counted. However, with the suspension it is currently unknown how long it will last for.
“I totally disagree the weeks at one should totally count for Djoker during this freeze period of the rankings, if the points were falling off every week during this time frame Novak Djokovic would maintain his number one spot till everyone points fell off in theory,” Gilbert points out.
Although Sven Groenveld believes it is the only logical thing to do given the current circumstances. Groenveld has worked with many top players such as Maria Sharapova, Monica Seles and Sloane Stephens.
“When one element of ranking is Frozen everything is Frozen period! No argument!” He said on Twitter.
The ATP operates a 52-week ranking system when players have to defend their points won the previous year. It is unclear if there will be any changes made to the rules when the tour resumes.
ATP Players who have spends more than 200 weeks as world No.1
- Roger Federer SWI – 310
- Pete Sampras USA – 286
- Novak Djokovic SRB – 282
- Ivan Lendl USA – 270
- Jimmy Connors USA – 268
- Rafael Nadal ESP – 209
