Novak Djokovic began his US Open 2023 campaign with a facile straight sets win over Alexander Muller in the Round of 128 on Monday. With that result, he was able to regain the World No.1 rank in the ATP rankings. It has garnered mixed reactions online, as a section of the tennis community celebrated Djokovic’s return to the top, while another section are claiming that the No.1 ranking was as it is his only.

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Carlos Alcaraz had overtaken Novak Djokovic as World No.1 back in June 2023 after winning the Queen’s tournament and extended his lead after the spectacular Wimbledon 2023 final. Needlessly to say, Novak Djokovic’s fans did not take that very well and had mentioned number of different reasons that they believed the Serbian was dealt with unfairly.

Novak Djokovic vs Carlos Alcaraz: The battle of 2023

2023 has seen Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz compete vigorously and against each other for the World No.1 ranking in the men’s singles competition. It is interesting to note that the 23-time Grand Slam champion was denied a huge 2000 points by the ATP for winning the Wimbledon Championships last year, in which he had beaten Nick Kyrgios in the final. This is due to the fact that the All England Club had banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing in that edition due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Additionally, Novak Djokovic was also barred from playing in the US Open last year due to the Joe Biden government then not allowing any foreigners, entry into the country who were not vaccinated for Covid-19. These developments angered his supporters, with many in fact singing praises for the superstar to stand up to his convictions. Besides that, Djokovic still managed to win a lot despite participating in comparatively lesser number of tournaments during the period of March 2022-March 2023.

But coming to the present, Novak Djokovic in all likelihood, will be at the No.1 position even after the US Open ends. He was helped tremendously by beating Carlos Alcaraz in the recent Cincinnati Masters final, which won him 1000 points while the Spaniard had to settle for 500. Alcaraz also needs to defend his 2000 points for winning the US Open last year. So in the scenario where Alcaraz wins and Djokovic makes it to the semi-final or final, the Serbian will still be around 1000-1500 points ahead of the 20-year-old Spaniard.

Djokovic returning to the top delights fans, called ‘GOAT’ and ‘King’

The news of Novak Djokovic becoming No.1 for the 390th week in his career has delighted many tennis lovers, with some also freely taking a shot at the ATP Tour for its flawed system. Here are some fan reactions for the same –

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With Novak Djokovic all set to enter his 390th week as World No.1, many are stunned that he would be the first and perhaps the only player ever in tennis history to complete 400 weeks at the top. Going by that parameter, it would indeed make Djokovic the GOAT as he would then go 90+ weeks ahead of Roger Federer (who was No.1 for 310 weeks) and nearly double the tally of Rafael Nadal, who was No.1 for 209 weeks. It would also give the Serbian legend a chance to displace Federer as the oldest World No.1 in the ATP rankings should he remain at the top on April 2, 2024.

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