Medvedev moves up to No. 2 following Rome title, Alcaraz officially back to No. 1

Daniil Medvedev had to win the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in order to pass Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings this week. Having never previously captured an ATP title on clay, there was little reason to think that Medvedev would actually do it.

But that is exactly what Medvedev did, beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals and Holger Rune in the championship match. The 27-year-old’s reward is the No. 2 ranking spot and also the No. 2 seed at the French Open. That’s a massive development, too, because it means Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz could be in the same half of the draw at Roland Garros.

Alcaraz’s path to leapfrogging Djokovic in the rankings was much easier. In fact, the 20-year-old Spaniard did not even have to win a single match. He simply had to participate at the Rome Masters, because he had no points to defend from last year and Djokovic was defending 1,000 points as the 2022 champion. Alcaraz played but lost in the third round to little-known qualifier Fabian Marozsan, while Djokovic bowed out at Rune’s hands in the quarterfinals.

The result is an 860-point gap in the rankings between Alcaraz and Djokovic. Medvedev is now in between them at No. 2, 485 points out of first and 375 points clear of third.

French Open men’s singles seeds

With the French Open draw being made later this week, the current ATP rankings have determined the seeding. Because Djokovic is No. 2 instead of No. 2, the 36-year-old Serb could land on either side of the bracket.

Alcaraz, Medvedev, and Djokovic are followed by No. 4 Casper Ruud, No. 5 Tsitsipas, No. 6 Rune, No. 7 Andrey Rublev, and No. 8 Jannik Sinner. The 9-12 seeding group includes Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Karen Khachanov, and Frances Tiafoe.