Novak Djokovic begins 370th week as number one in the world

Novak Djokovic is celebrating his 370th week as World No. 1 after putting paid to Daniil Medvedev's hopes of eclipsing him in the lead-up to Roland Garros.

Before the two big clay-court Masters in Madrid and Rome, Djokovic was in danger of losing his number one ranking to Medvedev again. But when the stakes were at the highest, the Serbian rose to the occasion.

He reached the semifinal in the Spanish capital (lost to an inspired Carlos Alcaraz) before capturing his first title of the season at the Foro Italico. Djokovic did not drop a set all week and outclassed Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday's final 6-0, 7-6 to lift a record-extending 38th Masters trophy.

After a difficult start to the year in which Djokovic was denied the chance to defend the Australian Open after he was controversially deported from Australia because he was unvaccinated against coronavirus, his spot as World No. 1 was far from secure.

It meant he started his campaign a little later than most of his rivals, losing in back-to-back matches in Dubai and Monte Carlo. He was on his longest trophyless start to a season since 2018, but he finally has his hands on a piece of hardware.

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Djokovic's 370th at the top of the rankings extends his record of most weeks at No. 1 by a male player. He has at least 60 more than the next man in the list which is Roger Federer (310). The 20-time Grand Slam champion will be the top seed at Roland Garros later this month

Medvedev will remain in second spot as he intends to return to competition in Geneva this week. Stefanos Tsitsipas rose one spot to fourth after a runner-up finish in Rome, while Rafael Nadal dropped to fifth after losing to Denis Shapovalov in the round of 16. Carlos Alcaraz misses out on the top five after withdrawing from the Italian Open.

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