ATP Rankings: Novak Djokovic moves closer to Pete Sampras and Roger Federer
With three ATP 250 events in the week behind us, there were not enough points up for grabs to make changes in the top-20, with most of players taking some well-deserved rest following a grueling action down under in January. The ATP Cup and the Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is still the player to beat, kicking off his 277th week as world no. 1 and moving only nine behind Pete Sampras who stands on 286. Novak took some time off and enjoyed the vacation with his family, visiting Italy and Serbia ahead of the Dubai trip in a couple of weeks. Rafael Nadal is celebrating the 600th week in the top-3, becoming only the second player to achieve that after Roger Federer and spending some exciting time in Kuwait and South Africa in the previous week, competing against Roger Federer at the Cape Town Stadium in front of the crowd of almost 52,000, setting the world attendance record at one tennis match.
Roger Federer is still in the top-3, less than 100 points ahead of Dominic Thiem who has skipped this week's ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires and take more rest before Rio de Janeiro where he will chase 500 points and the place in the top-3 for the first time in a career. Daniil Medvedev is over 1000 points behind the Australian Open finalist, hoping to reduce that gap this week in Rotterdam, leading the field at the first ATP 500 tournament of the season. World no. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas is also in Rotterdam, seeking the first title of the season and to increase the lead over Alexander Zverev who should be back in action in Acapulco. Matteo Berrettini had to withdraw from Buenos Aires, staying eighth on the list but with the same number of points as Gael Monfils who claimed the title in Montpellier, beating Vasek Pospisil in the final. David Goffin completes the top-10 group ahead of Fabio Fognini, Roberto Bautista Agut and Stan Wawrinka.
Diego Schwartzman lost in the final in Cordoba, wasting the opportunity to move in front of the Swiss and become world no. 13, with another chance waiting for him in Buenos Aires. Everything else remained the same in the top-20, with more shifts and changes coming in the next couple of weeks when all the players return to the court. Guido Pella lost five positions, passed by that many rivals, including Cristian Garin who lifted the third ATP crown in Cordoba for a career-high ranking. Failing to defend the title in Montpellier, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dropped out from the top-40, followed by Cordoba winner Juan Ignacio Londero who had to give away 19 positions on the list. Pune finalists Egor Gerasimov and Jiri Vesely (the first ATP title since Auckland 2015) are on the verge of the top-70 now, earning 19 and 35 spots on the list, respectively.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2SeP97R
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