Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic have a fierce fight for the world ranking top. While the Serbian does not want to lose that privilege, the Russian seeks to be the first player outside the Big 4 (Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) to be number one. The last to achieve this was Andy Roddick on November 3, 2003, remaining at the top until February 1, 2004.
Taking this into account, February could be a key month in terms of this aspiration of the native of Moscow. During this month, the Serbian is confirmed to play only the ATP 500 in Dubai, while the Russian will do the same in Acapulco.
However What are the possible scenarios for Medvedev to keep that long-awaited first position? The first one is simple: If the Russian wins Acapulco, regardless of what happens with Novak in Dubai, he will be number one. The other is if the Muscovite manages to get into the final in Acapulco and Djokovic does not win Dubai.
Another possibility would be that Medvedev reaches the Acapulco semifinals and Djokovic does not reach the Dubai final.. If the Russian gets into the quarterfinals and the Serbian doesn’t reach the semis, he will also be number one in the world.
The remaining two scenarios are: Medvedev reaching the second round of Acapulco and Djokovic not reaching the semis and the last one with the Russian losing in the first round and Novak not reaching the quarterfinals.
In the event that any of these variables occurs, Medvedev would become the third Russian to be number one in the world. Previously Yevgeny Kafelnikov (six weeks in 1999) and Marat Safin (nine weeks between 2000 and 2001) had already achieved it.
