Djokovic Begins New Season In Control Of Olympics Race Ahead Of Alcaraz

With less than six months to go, Novak Djokovic doesn't look like he is relinquishing his spot as the leader of the Olympics Race to Paris.

The Olympics Race will determine the Top 56 players who earn a straight ticket into the Olympics tennis tournament in singles. The showpiece event in Paris will run from July 27th until August 4th at the iconic Stade Roland Garros.

The Olympics Race commenced accruing points on June 12th, 2023, and will continue to do so until June 12th, 2024. Carlos Alcaraz had been in charge of this race for a considerable period, having won at Queen's and Wimbledon at the start of the grass swing.

However, Djokovic took control of the standings following his victory at the Paris Masters last autumn, where he became the first man to win an astonishing 40 Masters titles. The Serb finished the second half of 2023 in a flourish, bagging titles in Cincinnati and a record 24 Grand Slam wins at the US Open.

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Djokovic has accumulated 6,560 points. Alcaraz, who is in second place, has tallied 4,680 and is ahead of Jannik Sinner, who is in third place.

Daniil Medvedev's participation remains a mystery, with the ITF rule stipulating that Russian and Belarusian players remain ineligible, contrary to the International Olympic Committee's decision to lift the ban.

Medvedev and compatriot Andrey Rublev are ranked in the Top 10. Alex de Minaur sits at a high of eighth in the race, while Ben Shelton is the top-ranked American and occupies the 10th position. Adrian Mannarino broke the world's Top 20 at the age of 35 this week and sits in 11th spot in the race.

Mannarino is the top-ranked Frenchman. One country can only be represented by four of its best-ranked players in the world's Top 56. That means some players representing countries like the USA and France might miss out because of the high number of top-ranked players.

China's Zhizhen Zhang is the only man who has qualified for the tournament, having won a gold medal at the Asian Games last year. The defending gold medalist from Tokyo, Alexander Zverev, is ranked fifth, but Andy Murray, a two-time gold medalist, could miss out.

Another gold medalist who could miss out is Rafael Nadal, who is currently ranked 500th with only 50 points to his name from quarterfinal participation in Brisbane.

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2024 Race to Paris Olympics as of January 8th, 2024: