Medvedev Makes History, Reaches No. 1 In ATP Rankings

  • Posted: Feb 28, 2022

Medvedev Makes History, Reaches No. 1 In ATP Rankings

The 26-year-old passes Djokovic for the top spot

Daniil Medvedev today becomes the 27th player to reach No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old (8,615 points) passes Serbian Novak Djokovic (8,465), who has held the top spot in men’s tennis for a record 361 total weeks.

“Of course I am happy to reach No. 1. It was my goal since I was young and especially my goal in the latest times,” Medvedev said. “I got a lot of messages from many people and from other tennis players and I just want to thank everybody for the big support.”

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Medvedev is the first player outside the ‘Big Four’ of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to hold the top spot in 18 years, three weeks and six days, since Andy Roddick on 1 February 2004. The last time there was a new World No. 1 was more than five years ago, when Murray made it there on 7 November 2016.

Medvedev is the third Russian to achieve the feat, joining Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. Kafelnikov spent six weeks atop the ATP Rankings and Safin was in the top spot for nine weeks.

Medvedev, who stands at 198cm, is the tallest player to earn the honour in the history of the ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old is also the sixth-oldest player to reach World No. 1 for the first time.

Guaranteed to claim the top spot when Djokovic lost on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships against Jiri Vesely, Medvedev last week reached the semi-finals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco.

Some of Medvedev’s biggest results en route to World No. 1 include his first Grand Slam title at last year’s US Open, an ATP Masters 1000 trophy last year in Toronto at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, a run to the championship match at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals and a trip to his fourth major final at this year’s Australian Open.

Medvedev cracked the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings in November 2016 when he was 20. The next year, he competed at the inaugural Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and in July 2019, he broke into the Top 10 for the first time.

He has won 13 tour-level titles, including four Masters 1000 crowns. Medvedev also claimed the prestigious season-ending Nitto ATP Finals trophy in 2020. For a full history of the No. 1 ATP Ranking, click here.

View Latest ATP Rankings

Players Who Have Reached ATP World No. 1

Player Date Reached No. 1
Ilie Nastase  23 August 1973
John Newcombe  3 June 1974
Jimmy Connors  29 July 1974
Bjorn Borg  23 August 1977
John McEnroe  3 March 1980
Ivan Lendl  28 February 1983
Mats Wilander  12 September 1988
Stefan Edberg  13 August 1990
Boris Becker  28 January 1991
Jim Courier  10 February 1992
Pete Sampras  12 April 1993
Andre Agassi  10 April 1995
Thomas Muster  12 February 1996
Marcelo Rios  30 March 1998
Carlos Moya  15 March 1999
Yevgeny Kafelnikov  3 May 1999
Patrick Rafter  26 July 1999
Marat Safin  20 November 2000
Gustavo Kuerten  4 December 2000
 Lleyton Hewitt   19 November 2001
 Juan Carlos Ferrero  8 September 2003
 Andy Roddick  3 November 2003
 Roger Federer  2 February 2004
 Rafael Nadal  18 August 2008
 Novak Djokovic  4 July 2011
 Andy Murray  7 November 2016
 Daniil Medvedev   28 February 2022

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