There will be a new No. 1 player in the ATP rankings on Monday.
In a battle between Novak Djokovic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and Daniil Medvedev at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Djokovic had to finish with a better result than Medvedev in order to maintain the top spot. With the Russian already in the quarterfinals at his tournament, the Serb had to defeat Jiri Vesely on Thursday for a place in the semis of his event.
Surprisingly, it didn’t happen for Djokovic.
Vesely stunned the top seed 6-4, 7-6(4), clinching Medvedev’s spot atop the rankings as of next week. The Czech left-hander produced a brilliant performance to take down Djokovic in one hour and 57 minutes.
“I congratulate Jiri,” Djokovic praised. “He played better. He just went for his shots. His serve was big. His whole game was big. When he needed to come up with the good shots, he did, putting a lot of pressure also on my service games.”
“It is great for tennis to have someone new at world No. 1,” Vesely commented. “Novak is such a champion; he has been No. 1 for 361 weeks. But tennis needs a new world No. 1s and there is a new generation coming up. I think it is great.”
Medvedev will be the first man outside the Big 4 (Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray) to be No. 1 since Andy Roddick in 2004.
As for Vesely, he is now 2-0 lifetime against Djokovic–having also knocked off the 20-time major champion at the 2016 Monte-Carlo Masters.
“It is an amazing feeling,” Vesely assured. “I never really thought I would have a chance against Novak. He is one of the greatest of all time. After the past 12 months (of on and off court struggles), it is unbelievable. I have so many emotions inside. It is hard to describe.
“Playing against Novak, he is such a great groundstroke player. He moves really well. You really have to earn it and fight for every single point. I think I did an amazing job today. I tried to keep the rallies short. Of course Novak had huge support. I love these matches playing against the best players in the world. Having full stadiums is something I have dreamt about my whole life.”
Thanks in part to Vesely, now Medvedev has realized a dream of his own.
nice one, Vesely
fantastic win for Jiri…and he’s 2-0 life-time vs Joker….Wow!
Saw first set. Vesely played at the top of his game, his ground strokes were so steady, ROS very impressive and serving unreturnable against Djok too.
But his outfit? OMG it was horrible, not that I’m in any way shallow of course….