Despite not having played in the Miami Masters, the Serbian continues to accumulate weeks as the World No. 1 in the rankings.
While the best player of the year is the Italian Jannik Sinner, who just won his third title of 2024 in Miami (Australian Open and Rotterdam being the others) and reached World No. 2, there is one player who continues to increase his numbers, even without playing.
Novak Djokovic, who took a few days off after his misstep in Indian Wells, woke up yet another Monday at the top of the rankings. But it wasn’t just another day, as he added his 419th week at the top of the chart at the age of 36 years and 321 days. What did that mean? He became the oldest player to position himself in that spot among male tennis players.
Considering a year consists of 52 weeks, Nole has been at the summit for a total of eight. Furthermore, if we consider the time elapsed since his first time as No. 1, which was on July 4, 2011, until now, 665 weeks have passed, meaning the Serbian occupied that spot for 63% of that time, as reported by Olé.
And there was a year when he suffered a right elbow injury that kept him quite away from the courts.
Djokovic and a head-to-head battle with Sinner
Now, can Sinner surpass him in the short term? Djokovic, who is without a coach after ending his association with Goran Ivanisevic, will defend 2,315 points on the clay tour, while his rival will only have to defend 585. And with a current difference of 2,015 points, the Italian is hopeful.
