Djokovic suffers 4-year low despite Wimbledon triumph
Novak Djokovic has slumped to number seven in the ATP world rankings – a four-year low for the Serb – despite being crowned Wimbledon champion on Sunday with his victory over Nick Kyrgios.
Djokovic won a seventh title at the All England Club but still dropped four places in the updated rankings, which were confirmed on Monday.
The slump follows the ATP’s decision to strip Wimbledon of its rankings points this year because of the tournament’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
That step deprived Djokovic of the 2,000 points which are usually awarded to Grand Slam champions, and the Serb now stands on 4,770 points in the men’s charts.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev maintained his position as world number one on 7,775 points, ahead of Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who trails by 925 points.
Rafael Nadal, who was forced to withdraw from the Wimbledon semifinals with injury, lies third.
Each of Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Rudd and Stefanos Tsitsipas have risen a spot and all find themselves ahead of Djokovic.
Djokovic enjoyed a record 361 weeks as world number one before being overtaken by Medvedev at the end of February. Djokovic recaptured top spot again in March before relinquishing it in June.
The current seventh place is Djokovic’s lowest in four years since he dropped outside the world top 10 in the summer of 2018, after missing the second part of the previous season through injury.
Djokovic, 35, will be hit by another rankings blow later this year if, as expected, he is forced to miss the US Open in August because he is unvaccinated against Covid-19.
That will deprive Djokovic of the chance to defend the 1,200 points he earned as runner-up at last year’s event at Flushing Meadows.
Earlier this year, Djokovic’s vaccine stance ultimately deprived him of the chance to defend his title at the Australian Open, meaning more points were placed out of reach.
Despite suffering a rankings headache, Djokovic was supportive of the ATP decision to strip Wimbledon of points, having criticized the ban on Russian and Belarusian players from appearing at the All England Club.
Elsewhere, fellow men’s 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios slipped five places in Monday’s ATP charts to world number 45 despite his career-best run at a Grand Slam.
In the WTA female ratings, newly-crowned women’s Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina – who was born in Moscow but represents Kazakhstan – remains in 23rd spot in the world.
Beaten Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur of Tunisia fell three spots to number five. At the top of the pile, Polish star Iga Swiatek maintained a considerable lead of more than 4,000 points ahead of nearest challenger Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
The ATP and WTA effectively turned this year’s Wimbledon into an exhibition tournament because of its ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
Both tours suggested the decision was discriminatory and went against their agreements on player entry conditions.
