By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday February 23, 2022
Daniil Medvedev continues to close on Novak Djokovic, and is now three wins from overtaking the Serbian legend for the No.1 ranking. If he achieves the feat this week in Acapulco, he will become the first player other than Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray (aka the Big Four) to hold the ATP’s No.1 ranking since Andy Roddick on Feb 1, 2004.
But the Russian, who breezed past Spain’s Pablo Andujar (6-1, 6-2) on Wednesday, knows he has a long way to go.
“Still it’s not done and it’s far from being done,” he said in his press conference at Acapulco. “In tennis everything is far until it’s done. We all know especially by some crazy matches when you think you won the match but it’s not true.”
But yes, it’s going to mean a lot [if I do it] and I’m sure, like usually in sports, there are going to be a lot of statistics going on, ‘Since when? Since what? Since how?’ And it’s going to be fun but first I need to achieve it because it’s going to hurt even more if we talk about this and I don’t make it, so that’s my main goal - to try and win as many matches as possible in the next three weeks and then see where did I come?”
Here are the No.1 ranking scenarios for Medvedev at the moment:
Medvedev reaches No.1 if...
Medvedev wins the Acapulco title
Medvedev reaches the Acapulco final and Djokovic does not win the Dubai title
Medvedev reaches the Acapulco SF and Djokovic does not reach the Dubai final
Djokovic does not reach the Dubai SF
Medvedev says it doesn’t really matter to him that it is Djokovic he is chasing. He says that to him, it is more about achieving a childhood dream, and one that he never thought could be possible when young.
“It doesn’t really matter if it’s Sampras there, Marat Safin or Novak,” he said. “It’s a goal that when you dream about when you are young, you just want to achieve it.”
Medvedev also added that it does feel special to be the player who is finally breaking up the Big Four hegemony at the top of the rankings. When he reached No.2 in the world he became the first man outside of the Big Four to do so since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.
“When I became No.2, I didn’t even know this but everybody started saying that I am the first [non Big Four player to attain a Top-2 ranking] since 2005, and Lleyton Hewitt, and that was nice to hear, because it means that yes, some of your achievements on the tennis court are really big, and maybe bigger than I could imagine.”