Historic World No. 1 Change: All Four Top-Ranked Players To Change After US Open

Historic World No. 1 Change: All Four Top-Ranked Players To Change After US Open

by Nurein Ahmed

We're going to witness a one-of-a-kind feat that is going to happen concurrently across both tours, in singles and doubles, when the new rankings come out next week.

The No. 1 ranking will change hands in men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles in the same week after the 2023 US Open comes to an end. This has never happened before since rankings began and were based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative period almost 50 years ago.

In men's singles, it was a done deal from day one when Novak Djokovic defeated Alexandre Muller in straight sets to kick off his 2023 US Open campaign. Djokovic secured at least 45 points by virtue of winning that match to overturn Carlos Alcaraz's 20-point lead and will reclaim the No. 1 ranking at the start of next week irrespective of his result in the semifinal.

In the women's singles rankings, Aryna Sabalenka was able to dethrone Iga Swiatek from the summit. The Pole's title defense came to a juddering halt in the fourth-round stage, losing to an inspired Jelena Ostapenko. All Sabalenka needed was to match Swiatek's performance at the US Open.

The Belarusian will take over the reins for the first time, ending Swiatek's 75-week dominance, becoming the 29th WTA World No. 1 in rankings history. There will be movement in the doubles rankings too.

On the ATP side, Wimbledon champions and current No. 1s Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof suffered a shock third-round exit at this year's US Open. The pair had reached last year's US Open, and will therefore lose 1,020 points apiece, enough to vacate from top spot of the men's doubles.

American Austin Krajicek, who reached the semifinal of his home Slam, will reclaim the number one ranking. Krajicek became a Grand Slam champion after winning this year's Roland Garros alongside Croatian veteran Ivan Dodig and ascended to number one for the first time in June.

He lost it momentarily but is going to get it back on Monday after a semifinal run this week. Krajicek, who nearly quit the sport a few years ago after a disastrous singles career, has been rewarded handsomely for making a career-altering decision to stick to doubles. He could still add to his Grand Slam collection by winning the mixed doubles title (will play with Jessica Pegula in the final on Saturday).

The women's doubles no. 1 will be taken over by Jessica Pegula and her partner Coco Gauff. A second-round defeat of defending champions and top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova guaranteed a new no. 1 on Monday.

Pegula and Gauff were eliminated in the semifinal stage (still waiting for a Grand Slam doubles as a pair). However, that was still enough for them to reach the world no. 1 spot next Monday.

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