Roger Federer drops out from the top-4 for the first time since March 2019

In March 2019, Roger Federer won the inaugural Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium, beating John Isner in the title clash and earning 1000 points. The Swiss had returned into the top-4 with those and stayed in the mentioned group until this Monday when he had to go down to the ATP ranking list's 5th place. The Russian Daniil Medvedev switched places with Roger following the triumph at the Paris Masters on Sunday, putting 1000 points to his pocket and gaining a valuable spot in the rankings ahead of the year-end rankings. Roger has played only one tournament in 2020, reaching the Australian Open's semi-final and skipping the rest of the season after two knee surgeries in February and May. The Swiss is working hard on a comeback, hitting the court again and hoping for a fresh start in 2021, like the one he made four years ago. Roger was sidelined from the second part of 2016 due to another knee injury, starting the next season ranked 16th and restoring the order at the Australian Open, claiming the first Major crown since 2012!

It was the strongest comeback he could imagine, lifting three out of five Major titles and never dropping out from the top-7. At 39, Federer will have a favorable starting position in 2021, keeping the points from the previous season due to the coronavirus and hoping to finish the season in the top-5 for the 16th time. Daniil Medvedev became world no. 4 after the last year's US Open and that memorable run that almost saw him winning the title in that epic encounter against Rafael Nadal. The Russian had an outstanding season with four titles, including back-to-back Masters 1000 crowns in Cincinnati and Shanghai. The current season wasn't that good for the Moscow native, failing to reach the final before the previous week.

Daniil Medvedev has passed Roger Federer on the ATP rankings list.

Daniil changed all that in Paris, defeating Diego Schwartzman, Milos Raonic and Alexander Zverev in consecutive matches to secure the third Masters 1000 trophy and move 340 points away from Roger Federer on the ATP ranking list. Medvedev toppled Zverev 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and seven minutes in the title match, adding another Masters 1000 shield to his name. Medvedev had 35 winners and 25 unforced errors, overpowering the German in the mid-range and most extended exchanges to erase a slow start and claim the trophy. Alexander claimed the opening set with a late break in game 12, staying in touch in the opening seven games of set number two before Daniil claimed 12 out of 14 points to take it 6-4. With momentum on his side, the Russian scored three breaks in the decider, racing towards the finish line and the season's first title.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3paSBi7