He is not ‘paying too much attention anymore’, but Novak Djokovic feels ‘change is coming’ in ATP Rankings

ATP Tour
Novak Djokovic interview

His own focus has shifted away from the ATP Rankings, but Novak Djokovic says “change is coming” with Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and a few others pushing for top spots.

Djokovic and his fellow Big Three rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have dominated the world No 1 ranking over the past two decades with only Andy Murray managing to hit top spot since 2004.

However, Medvedev broke their stranglehold on the top two spots as he rose to a career-high of No 2 earlier in the year while the likes of Thiem, Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev have also impressed in recent months.

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The reigning world No 1, who has now spent a record 320 weeks at the top, says it was inevitable that the younger generation will eventually break through.

“The results are showing that [there is a shift in generations],” he said. “These guys are playing every week more or less. There are guys like Tsitsipas, Zverev, Matteo Berrettini [and] Andrey Rublev that are winning against all of us and playing a lot and building their ranking points.

“Medvedev as well, of course, [is] challenging for the top spots. Dominic Thiem, of course, has been there for many years. It’s inevitable that it’s going to happen. The change in the [FedEx ATP] Rankings is coming. Whether it’s going to happen in a month or a year or whatever, I don’t know.

He added: “I’m not personally paying too much attention anymore to the rankings as much as I am to my game for the Grand Slams. You know, those are the biggest focus tournaments right now at this stage of my career.”

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Alexander Zverev Daniil Medvedev Dominic Thiem Novak Djokovic Stefanos Tsitsipas

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