Sep 11, 2023, 7:52 p.m. ET
Historic double. It took 11 years and two months for a double change to take place at the top of the world. The Serbian Novak Djokovic, who won the US Open for the fourth time and thus increased the record of men’s Grand Slam titles to 24, displaced the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz as No. 1 in the ATP rankings. This Monday, in addition, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, finalist in New York, climbed to first place in the WTA rankings for the first time by surpassing the Polish Iga Swiatek.
Djokovic returned to ATP No. 1 and Sabalenka is WTA No. 1 for the first time. ESPNtenis.com
This way, Djokovic started his 10th period as world No. 1. The 36-year-old Serbian was crowned three Grand Slams in 2023, being the first man in the era open to professionalism (since 1968) with three successes in the Majors in four different seasons. And he demoted Alcaraz from the throne, although the jump had already been assured with the first victory in New York, due to his absence in 2022 (prohibited for not being vaccinated against Covid) and the Spaniard revalidated the 2,000 points of the qualification.
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On your own, Sabalenka, 25, rose to number one on the WTA for the first time and thus ended the streak of 75 weeks (one year and five months) of Swiatek, champion a year ago at the United States Open, at the top of the women’s ranking. The Belarusian holds a Grand Slam, Australia 2023, and at the US Open she could not repeat since she fell to the young local Coco Gauff, who thus climbed to third place.
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Thus, this Monday, September 11, the two No. 1s in major singles changed. The last time this double had been recorded was on July 9, 2012. And there were some striking coincidences, which usually occur after a Grand Slam, because they are the tournaments that distribute the most units and therefore can generate important changes in the weekly rankings.
That time, the Swiss Roger Federer was crowned again in a Major, at his favorite Wimbledon -holds the record of eight cups-, and began his third cycle as No. 1 in the ATP. In his case, he knocked Djokovic off the top after a year and a few days in which the Serbian had completed his first stage at the top of the ranking.
The same Monday, Victoria Azarenkawho climbed to the semi-finals in La Catedral, She took the number one from the Russian Maria Sharapova, who had been leader for 21 consecutive weeks. The peculiarity is that it was another Belarusian, the first from her nation that was No. 1 in the world. Now, the second to have that luxury is Sabalenka, who has a great season.
Thus, just over 11 years later, the change of No. 1 was recorded twice. It is not common to see a similar situation. Now Djokovic distanced himself from Alcaraz with a greater advantage than that taken by Sabalenka with respect to Swiatek. Therefore, it was a special Monday.
2023-09-12 00:27:37
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