The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz falls to the world number twoafter updating the ATP Rankings this Monday. Serbian Novak Djokovic, winner of a total of 22 Grand Slams, tops the list again. Manacor tennis player Rafa Nadal – who is currently recovering from a grade 2 Iliacus psoas injury in his left leg – drops one more place to fourteenth place.

Defeat of Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the Miami Masters 1000 against the Italian Jannik Sinner prevented the Murcian from defending his crown on North American soil and winning the ‘Sunshine Double’. The 640 points lost dropped him to second place, 380 points behind Djokovic. Alcaraz has been number one for 21 weeks, divided into two stages.

For his part, the Balkan – absent in Miami when he cannot enter the United States for lack of being vaccinated against the coronavirus – does not lose points. Last year, he also sat out the tournament and will enter his 381st week at the top of the ATP rankings. Djokovic has not raced since early March in Dubai and will return to the tracks in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000one of the events most wanted to compete for tennis players.

Tsitsipas and Medvedev, the next in the ranking

At number three is the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, while the Russian Daniil Medvedev moves up one position to fourth place (5.150), at the expense of the Norwegian Casper Ruud, after winning the Master 1000 in Miami.

Russian Andrey Rublev and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime swap places, now sixth and seventh respectively. Dane Holger Rune is eighth and Miami runner-up Italian Sinner moves up two spots to ninth. The American Taylor Fritz closes the ‘Top 10’.

Alcaraz accounts to return to number 1

Accounts in the Principality for Carlos to return to number one after the tournament are clear. There is two possibilities for that to happen. The first is that Alcaraz reaches the final and Djokovic does not go beyond the quarter-finals. But there is another option that depends solely on him: let him be a champion. If he wins the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 trophy, he would be top of the standings again no matter what the Serb does.