World number 1, Novak Djokovic, got close to winning his first title of the 2022 season at the Serbia Open, and despite the loss, he moved massively in the ATP Race.
Despite being first in the ATP Rankings, before the 2022 Serbia Open, Novak Djokovic earned only 100 points during the 2022 season, and therefore, he was out of the Top 100 in the ATP Race, which shows the points earned for the ongoing season.
That was because of multiple reasons, most importantly the fact that he was unable to enter some of the biggest tournaments in the world, causing him to have a significant deficit to his opponents when it comes to points earned in 2022.
Yet, Djokovic still had a super-impressive 2021 season, thanks to which he's still occupying the top spot in the ATP Rankings. After losing early at the 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters, Novak Djokovic was coming with only one goal to the 2022 Serbia Open.
After coming back from a set and a break down against Laslo Djere in his first match, it looked like he could win the tournament after he manufactured three perfect comebacks to reach the final of the home tournament in Belgrade, which was played at the Novak Tennis Centre.
However, he couldn't make the fourth one happen when he lost the third set in the final of the tournament against Andrey Rublev. The Russian proved to be just too good in that third set, beating the 20-time major winner 6-0.
However, Djokovic still earned 150 points for the tournament, which moved him up 77 places to 83rd place in the 2022 ATP Race. Despite the highest spots seemingly out of his reach, the Serbian will still target a Top 10 finish in 2022, and likely even higher positions, even though that may be impossible.