Carlos Alcaraz missed his chance to surpass Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings after losing to Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open.
After a fantastic summer winning the French Open and Wimbledon, Alcaraz was expected to do well in Cincinnati. He even got a silver medal at his first Olympics in Paris this month.
Despite skipping the Montreal tournament, no one thought he’d struggle early on in Cincinnati.
He had a great chance to climb higher in the rankings if he went far in this tournament. Last year, he almost won it but lost to Djokovic after having a match point.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇪🇸 Carlos Alcaraz | 21 | 68,791 | 25 - 5 |
Djokovic’s Absence and Points Battle:
This time, Djokovic didn’t play any warm-up events before the US Open. At the start of Cincinnati, Djokovic was second with 8460 points, and Alcaraz was third with 7950 points.
Since Djokovic would lose 1000 points for not defending his title from last year, his total would drop to 7460. Fans might think it’s interesting how rankings can change so quickly.
Alcaraz needed just a quarterfinal finish to become World No. 2 with 7550 points. But things didn’t go as planned when he faced Monfils again after an 18-hour rain delay.
Monfils used his experience to break serve once and win the match. Alcaraz couldn’t convert any of four break points in the final set and faced his eighth defeat of the season.
Frustration took over during the match as Alcaraz smashed his racket in anger. Unless he decides on a wild card entry for Winston-Salem next week (an ATP 250 event), he’ll stay at 7360 points post-Cincinnati.
It seems unlikely he’ll take that wild card since he usually rests before Grand Slams. So Djokovic will stay World No. 2 for now.
The risk for Alcaraz is not securing third place yet because Alexander Zverev could pass him by winning more matches. Zverev plays Ben Shelton next and could become World No. 2 if he wins everything here, reaching up to 7635 points which would beat both Alcaraz and Djokovic’s totals.
What do you think about these ranking changes?
