Alcaraz Relinquishes Throne By Not Winning The Miami Open
Novak Djokovic is once again the world’s top-ranked tennis player, for an all-time record 381st week. And he did it without even lifting his racquet. And, despite making it all the way to the semi-finals of the Miami Open, and Djokovic not even playing, Alcaraz gives up the world #1 ranking.
To understand how this is possible, one must first understand how the ATP rankings are calculated. ATP rankings are calculated on an annual, 52-week, basis. A player’s ranking is determined solely based on how well he has performed over the prior 52 weeks. Calculations and new points totals and rankings are released each Monday.
A player earns ATP points at each tournament, with different amounts of points available depending on the tournament. For instance, Grand Slam tournaments award 2,000 to the winner. The Miami Open is one of 9 Masters 1000 tournaments. The winner of each Master 1000 tournament wins 1,000 points.
Going into the Miami Open, Alcaraz was the #1 ranked player in the world with 7,420 points as compared to Djokovic’s 7,160 points. Importantly, Alcarez’s points included 1,000 points he received for winning the 2022 Miami Open. As this tournament was not just over a year ago, these 1000 points drop off Alcarez’s point count and will be replaced by however many points he was awarded at the 2023 Miami Open.
Alcaraz was defeated in the semi-final round by Italy’s Janik Sinner. For advancing to the semi-final round, Alcaraz has been awarded 360 points. So, Alcaraz’s new point total is 6,780, which can be calculated as 7,420-1,000+360=6,780.
Djokovic’s point total remains 7,160. The reason for this is that Djokovic did not play at either the 2022 or 2023 Miami Open due to the US government’s rule against allowing entry for unvaccinated travelers. Thus, Djokovic did not lose any points when the ATP rankings were recalculated this week.
It is also important to note that Djokovic won the 2022 Wimbledon. Had he received the typical 2,000 points for winning a Grand Slam tournament, Djokovic would have had a commanding points lead all year and Alcaraz would not have become the number one ranked player after recently winning at Indian Wells.
However, the ATP decided not to award any points at Wimbledon because Russian and Belarusian players were banned from playing at Wimbledon due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Of course, Alcaraz fans still have much to celebrate. Alcaraz is the youngest player ever to be ranked #1. He is one of only 28 players to even be ranked #1 in the history of the ATP rankings. And he is still only 19 years old!
Djokovic will be returning to the court next week for the Monte-Carlo Masters, another Masters 1000 tournament, beginning on April 8th. As Djokovic was stunned with a 2nd round defeat at the 2022 Monte Carlo Masters, he can further advance his World #1 ranking lead with a strong performance at this year’s Monte Carlo Masters.
