Is Carlos Alcaraz going to become what Eddie Merckx was in cycling, a cannibal who wins everything? The premises for such greatness appear to be quite well-grounded, though from time to time enthused and valiant players, like Jan Lennard-Struff in Madrid, do their best (in vain) to avert such threat.
Thanks to his triumph in his home Masters 1000 in Madrid Alcaraz is just 5 points away from the top spot in the rankings, still held by Novak Djokovic.
In the next two weeks, the Serbian will be defending the 1000 points he earned in Rome last year. This means that Alcaraz, who did not play the Internazionali di Roma last year, will just have to step out on the court once to regain the No. 1 ranking.
TOP 20
Position
Player
Country
Pts
+/-
1
Djokovic
Serbia
6775
2
Alcaraz
Spain
6770
3
Medvedev
Russia
5330
4
Ruud
Norway
5165
5
Tsitsipas
Greece
5015
6
Rublev
Russia
4190
7
Rune
Denmark
3865
8
Sinner
Italy
3525
9
Fritz
USA
3380
1
10
Auger Aliassime
Canada
3235
-1
11
Khachanov
Russia
3025
1
12
Tiafoe
USA
2755
-1
13
Norrie
GB
2680
14
Nadal
Spain
2535
15
Hurkacz
Poland
2525
16
Coric
Croatia
2240
4
17
Paul
USA
2170
18
de Minaur
Australia
1995
1
19
Musetti
Italy
1960
-1
20
Berrettini
Italy
1832
1
Borna Coric makes the most significant move, from No. 20 to No. 16. Alexander Zverev, who had permanently resided in the top 20 since April 2017, drops out and is 22nd.
FALLS AND RISES
Today we inaugurate a new column dedicated to the 3 tennis players in the top 100 whose rankings most surged or plummeted in the last week.
Falls…
Player
+/-
Ranking
Bonzi
-19
64
Schwartzman
-19
91
Borges
-14
88
…and rises…
Player
+/-
Ranking
Karatsev
68
53
Struff
37
28
Zhang
30
69
NITTO ATP FINALS
The Race to Turin standing features only one new newcomer in the Top 10: Tommy Paul, runner-up in the Aix-en-Provence Challenger where he was defeated by a rejuvenated Andy Murray, moves up to No.10; Cameron Norrie slips down to 11th place.
Carlos Alcaraz, thanks to the 1000 points booty he collected in Madrid, has overtaken Daniil Medvedev and has secured the top spot. Stefanos Tsitsipas gains one position whereas Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic lose one.
Karen Khachanov has grabbed the No.8 spot at the expense of Holger Rune.
Position
Player
Country
Pts
+/-
1
Alcaraz
Spain
3410
2
2
Medvedev
Russia
3300
-1
3
Djokovic
Serbia
2565
-1
4
Tsitsipas
Greece
2230
1
5
Sinner
Italy
2185
-1
6
Rublev
Russia
2125
7
Fritz
USA
1815
8
Khachanov
Russia
1530
1
9
Rune
Denmark
1525
-1
10
Paul
USA
1375
1
NEXT GEN ATP FINALS
The ranking dedicated to the best under 21s of the ongoing season sees an interesting new-entry, 21-year-old Bu Yunchaocete, who has leapt to 8th place. Since the two leaders of the ranking, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, are unlikely to take part in the finals, 9th and 10th rank will be enough to qualify for the finals.
Position
Player
Country
Pts
YOB
ATP rank
1
Alcaraz
Spain
3410
2003
2
2
Rune
Denmark
1525
2003
8
3
Musetti
Italy
570
2002
19
4
Shelton
USA
535
2002
35
5
Fils
France
370
2004
119
6
Van Assche
France
365
2004
85
7
Stricker
Switzerland
230
2002
115
8
Yunchaokete
China
212
2002
164
9
Cazaux
France
199
2004
197
10
Cobolli
Italy
185
2002
183
BEST RANKING
Eight players have achieved their career highest. A first special mention goes to Jan Leenard-Struff who, just after turning 33 and bouncing back from an injury, has succeeded in breaking into the Top 30 for the first time in his career. Our second special mention is for 22-year-old Italian Matteo Arnaldi who makes his debut in the top 100.
Daniil Medvedev believes there will be more title contenders at the French Open than previous editions with the Russian hoping to be one of them.
The world No.4 heads into the Grand Slam after what has been a mixed clay swing. Medvedev suffered a third round defeat in Monte Carlo before bouncing back in Madrid where he reached the quarter-finals before retiring from his match with a minor injury. Meanwhile, at this week’s Italian Open, his title defence came to an end in the fourth round on Tuesday when he fell 6-1, 6-4, to Tommy Paul.
“Mentally I had to be much better,” Medvedev said of his latest performance. “I started to calm myself down and focus on the match only at the end of the match, and it was too late. I had to do better. I was expecting myself to play better.’ “It’s disappointing, but that’s how sport is. You lose and you go for the next tournament, which is a pretty important one.” He added.
28-year-old Medvedev recently stated that he is seeing improvements in his game when it comes to playing on the clay. A surface which he has struggled on during stages of his career. Out of the 38 ATP Finals he has contested, only two of those were on the clay. Barcelona in 2019 when he finished runner-up and Rome last year which he won.
As for the French Open, he has lost in the first round on five out of seven appearances. But did reach the quarter-finals in 2021 and the last 16 the following year. So could 2024 be his year?
“Now it’s maybe a little bit more open than it was ever before,” he said of this year’s event. “Good for me, too, because usually in Roland Garros I don’t play that well. The more open it is, the better it is for me.”
All of the top three players on the men’s tour are currently experiencing problems. Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Italian Open and recently underwent a medical assessment after getting hit in the head by a bottle in a freak accident. Jannik Sinner is reportedly on the verge of withdrawing from the French Open due to a hip issue and Carlos Alcaraz has been hindered by a forearm injury in recent weeks.
“I’m feeling much better on clay,” Medvedev commented. “What is tough for me on clay sometimes is getting used to conditions. Every court – in every tournament in the world – is a bit different. “On hard courts it’s the same: every court is different. On hard courts I have this ability to kind of quite fast get used to it. On clay, I need more time.”
Medvedev aims to become only the second Russian man in history to win the French Open after Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1996. The tournament will begin a week on Sunday.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has slammed the decision to extend the length of Masters 1000 tournaments to two weeks by warning that more injuries could occur in the future as a result.
This week’s Rome Masters is taking place without two out of the world’s top three players. Jannik Sinner pulled out of his home event due to a hip injury and Carlos Alcaraz has been troubled by a forearm issue in recent weeks. Other players missing from the draw include Tomas Machac (Illness), Ugo Humbert (Left Knee) and Stan Wawrinka (Right Wrist).
The tournament is taking place immediately after the Madrid Open which is also a Masters event that has been expanded to a two-week format in recent years. Supporters of the move argue that a bigger draw provides lower-ranked players with more opportunities to play in these events whilst others will have a day off between matches.
However, world No.8 Tsitsipas isn’t completely happy with the schedule which he openly criticised on Monday following his 6-2, 7-6(1), win over Cameron Norrie. The Greek has won 12 out of 14 matches played on clay so far this season.
“It’s a type of thing that hurt the sport a little bit, to have these types of things happen to the highest of the players,” Tsitsipas commented on his rival’s injuries. “Without them, the show is not kind of the same. You have obviously the guys behind them (in the rankings). These kinds of tournaments deserve names like this to be playing and have the opportunity to play in front of these big stadiums and crowds. “I’ve spoken about the fact that the schedule has a big toll on our bodies. It starts from the mental side, and it follows to the physical side. The extension of the days in the Masters 1000s I think plays a massive role and contributes a lot to the fact that these players are getting injured.”
The ATP’s extended format is set to be applied to seven out of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments from 2025. The only two yet to make or plan for such changes are Monte Carlo and Paris. However, Tsitsipas has called for changes to be made to the schedule.
“It was perhaps already a lot the way it was before with the seven-day events. Adding more days to that, well, you got to be some type of superhero to be consistent back-to-back 10 days in each event getting to the very end of it.” He commented. “It’s not a very easy thing to do. Some people need to try it first to get an understanding and how it is to pull that off. Then they should make decisions based on that. “I think this is not going to be the first time we see these types of things (player injuries). If these types of things continue with the same schedule not being adjusted or customized to the needs of the players, we might see more of these things occur in the future.”
It is not the first time a player has raised concerns about the extended format. Alexander Zverev previously said that the schedule is a disadvantage for the top players. Meanwhile, on the women’s Tour Caroline Garcia has criticised the move to expand WTA 1000 tournaments whilst Maria Sakkari said achieving the Madrid-Rome double has become harder to do.
On the other hand, Daniil Medvedev has spoken in favour of the new format and describes injuries on the Tour as ‘part of the sport.’ The former US Open believes the issue is related to the quick surface changes players face and not the duration of tournaments.
Tsitsipas will play Alex de Minaur in the fourth round of the Italian Open on Tuesday.
The five-time champion was far from his best against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo as he struggled to generate any rhythm in his tennis or a single break point opportunity. Djokovic’s below-par performance caught many off guard, including the tennis player himself who admitted afterwards that he was ‘completely off’ his game.
Trying to find the reason behind his latest performance, the world No.1 isn’t ruling out the possibility that it might be linked to an incident that took place at the tournament two days ago. Following his win over France’s Corentin Moutet, Djokovic suffered a blow to his head after a fan accidentally dropped a metal bottle from the stands. Immediately afterwards, he experienced nausea, dizziness and bleeding for up to an hour but was checked by medical officials.
“I don’t know, to be honest. I have to check that.” Djokovic replied when asked if the incident affected his form on Sunday. “Training was different. I was going for kind of easy training yesterday. I didn’t feel anything, but I also didn’t feel the same. “Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance. Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. “It could be. I don’t know. I have to do medical checkups and see what’s going on. “
The tennis star said he managed to sleep fine after his head blow but did experience headaches. He looked to be in good spirits the day after it happened and even turned up to practice in Rome wearing a safety helmet.
Djokovic’s concerns come two weeks before the start of the French Open where he is seeking a record 25th Major title. He will undoubtedly be one of the contenders for glory but admits there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the coming days.
“Everything needs to be better in order for me to have at least a chance to win it,” he said. “The way I felt on the court today was just completely like a different player entered into my shoes. Just no rhythm, no tempo, and no balance whatsoever on any shot. “It’s a bit concerning.”