Medvedev Makes History, Reaches World No. 1

Daniil Medvedev

LONDON, February 28, 2022 (ATP Press Release)

Daniil Medvedev today becomes the 27th player to reach No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old (8,615 points) passes Serbian Novak Djokovic (8,465), who has held the top spot in men’s tennis for a record 361 total weeks.

“Of course I am happy to reach No. 1. It was my goal since I was young and especially my goal in the latest times,” Medvedev said. “I got a lot of messages from many people and from other tennis players and I just want to thank everybody for the big support.”

Medvedev is the first player outside the ‘Big Four’ of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to hold the top spot in 18 years, three weeks and six days, since Andy Roddick on 1 February 2004. The last time there was a new World No. 1 was more than five years ago, when Murray made it there on 7 November 2016.

Medvedev is the third Russian to achieve the feat, joining Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. Kafelnikov spent six weeks atop the ATP Rankings and Safin was in the top spot for nine weeks.

Medvedev, who stands at 198cm, is the tallest player to earn the honour in the history of the ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old is also the sixth-oldest player to reach World No. 1 for the first time.

Guaranteed to claim the top spot when Djokovic lost on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships against Jiri Vesely, Medvedev last week reached the semi-finals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco.

Some of Medvedev’s biggest results en route to World No. 1 include his first Grand Slam title at last year’s US Open, an ATP Masters 1000 trophy last year in Toronto at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, a run to the championship match at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals and a trip to his fourth major final at this year’s Australian Open.

Medvedev cracked the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings in November 2016 when he was 20. The next year, he competed at the inaugural Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and in July 2019, he broke into the Top 10 for the first time.

He has won 13 tour-level titles, including four Masters 1000 crowns. Medvedev also claimed the prestigious season-ending Nitto ATP Finals trophy in 2020.

Players Who Have Reached ATP World No. 1

Player Date Reached No. 1
Ilie Nastase 23 August 1973
John Newcombe 3 June 1974
Jimmy Connors 29 July 1974
Bjorn Borg 23 August 1977
John McEnroe 3 March 1980
Ivan Lendl 28 February 1983
Mats Wilander 12 September 1988
Stefan Edberg 13 August 1990
Boris Becker 28 January 1991
Jim Courier 10 February 1992
Pete Sampras 12 April 1993
Andre Agassi 10 April 1995
Thomas Muster 12 February 1996
Marcelo Rios 30 March 1998
Carlos Moya 15 March 1999
Yevgeny Kafelnikov 3 May 1999
Patrick Rafter 26 July 1999
Marat Safin 20 November 2000
Gustavo Kuerten 4 December 2000
Lleyton Hewitt 19 November 2001
Juan Carlos Ferrero 8 September 2003
Andy Roddick 3 November 2003
Roger Federer 2 February 2004
Rafael Nadal 18 August 2008
Novak Djokovic 4 July 2011
Andy Murray 7 November 2016
Daniil Medvedev 28 February 2022