Novak Djokovic lost 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. He will fall from no.1 in the ATP rankings and be replaced by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev will move up from no.2 for the first time and become the 27th man to reach that position. He won the US Open in 2021 and was the Australian Open runner-up for the past two years.
Daniil will become the first player other than Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray to top the rankings since February 1, 2004.
Djokovic spent a record 361 weeks atop the rankings and won eight tour-level titles, including three Grand Slams, since regaining his top-ranked status in February, 2020.
Vesely during his on-court interview said, “It’s great for tennis, I think, to have somebody new at world no.1 again. Tennis needs, of course, new no.1s. A new generation is coming up. I think it’s just great.”
He added, “I never expected to win again. He’s such a champion.”
The Dubai tournament is Djokovic’s first tournament since being deported from Australia for not being vaccinated against COVID-19. The deportation preventing him from being able to defend his Australian Open title.
Daniil Medvedev Replaces Novak Djokovic as World No.1
Novak Djokovic suffered a shock defeat by qualifier Jiri Vesely in Dubai quarter-final. He lost his status as world no.1 to Daniil Medvedev.
After the match Djokovic congratulated Jiri on his win. He said, “Unfortunately, it wasn`t my day. I congratulate Jiri. He played better. He just went for his shots. His serve was big. His whole game was big.”
“I expected myself to play on a higher level, for sure. I mean, I can do better. But credit to Jiri.”
Djokovic congratulated Daniil Medvdev on his position as the new world no.1. He took to Twitter and wrote, “Congratulations also to a very deserving @DaniilMedwed, who will now become world number 1.”
Nole also commented on his future in the game due to being unvaccinated. He said, “The more matches I play, the more confident I will be, the more comfortable I’ll be feeling on the court.”
“I didn’t have many matches at all last few months. I’ll have to follow the situation, see how it goes. Wherever I get an opportunity to play, I will. Hopefully that will be soon.”
He further added, “Of course I’m still motivated and I’m still pissed off when I lose a match. I care about winning every match, as anybody else on the tour. I’m actually glad that I’m feeling a lot of emotions every single day because it means that I really want to be part of this sport.”
“I don’t look at the age really as a restricting factor for my career. I still feel great in terms of my body and the way it’s holding on, the way it’s recovering. It’s been serving me well, so to say. That’s something that obviously encourages me to keep going.”