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Daniil Medvedev overtakes Nadal to take second place in ATP rankings

He is the first player other than the ‘Big 4’ in the ATP top two since July 2005

daniil-medvedev-file-ap [File] Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev | AP

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev pushed Rafael Nadal off the second spot in the ATP rankings on Monday following his win in the final of the Marseille tournament the day before. He defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 to move to a career-best No.2 position.

With this, the 25-year-old has become the first player other than the ‘Big 4’ in the ATP top two since July 2005. Apart from Novak Djokovic and Nadal, only Roger Federer and Andy Murray have held the position in that time.

The last non-Big 4 player before Medvedev to be ranked World No. 2 was Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt.

“I am really happy,” Medvedev said.

“I knew that I would become No. 2... [but] it is always better when you step up the rankings when you do something great... it is great for the self-esteem that just before becoming No. 2 on Monday, I win a tournament.”

Medvedev has also expressed his displeasure at the way younger generation players have been treated and compared to the ‘Big 3’, calling it unfair. He claimed that players other than Federer, Nadal and Djokovic don’t get enough credit for their achievements.

“It’s disappointing when people bring the new generation down. They are like ‘there is nobody to watch after Big 3’,” the 2021 Australian Open finalist said, adding that such negativity was not present before the arrival of the ‘Big 3’.

ATP rankings (top 10) as of March 15:

1 Novak Djokovic (SRB) 12008 pts

2 Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 9940 (+1)

3 Rafael Nadal (ESP) 9670 (-1)

4 Dominic Thiem (AUT) 8625

5 Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 6765

6 Roger Federer (SUI) 6375

7 Alexander Zverev (GER) 5635

8 Andrey Rublev (RUS) 5011

9 Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 3640

10 Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 3453

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