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.”
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.
Players Who Have Reached ATP World No. 1
Source Tennis – ATP World Tour
