Carlos Alcaraz and the number 1: If so, then now - because nothing will happen in Miami
Carlos Alcaraz can become number 1 in the world again with a final victory in Indian Wells over Daniil Medvedev.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 19, 2023, 11:29 am
Carlos Alcaraz was at the top of the ATP ranking for twenty weeks, from September 2022 to January 2023 - he had climbed to the top with his final victory at the US Open last year. And became the youngest player ever to be at the top.
Novak Djokovic is currently enthroned again as the world number one, thanks to his victory at the Australian Open. Djokovic, however, recently broke the record for most weeks as number 1 - for men and women. It is now 380 weeks for the Djoker, who has left Steffi Graf behind with her 377 weeks.
Will the 381st week as number 1 begin on Monday or will Carlos Alcaraz take over again? Depends on the outcome of the final in Indian Wells: Should Alcaraz win against Medvedev, he would overtake Djokovic again: Djokovic currently has 7,160 points, Alcaraz would have 7,420 if they won. Should he lose, he would be a close pursuer with 7,020 points.
Alcaraz can't win anything in Miami
For Alcaraz, the game could also be described as "Now or not anymore", because in the event of a defeat, he would remain behind Djokovic for a while. Why? After all, Djokovic cannot play in the following Miami Open (as in Indian Wells) and therefore cannot collect any points... Well: Because Alcaraz cannot do the latter either. He is the defending champion in Miami, so he has a maximum of 1,000 points to defend and will not be able to gain anything.
And there is also a lot at stake in the following weeks: In the spring of 2022, Alcaraz had turned up the heat, won after Miami in Barcelona (500 points) and in Madrid (1,000 points). However, Djokovic has a similar amount to defend - 150 points from Belgrade, 360 from Madrid and 1,000 from Rome. Both Alcaraz and Djokovic go into the French Open with 360 from the quarterfinals.
So there could be a nice back and forth over the clay court season as far as the number 1 is concerned.