No 1 ranking up for grabs at Australian Open as Djokovic and Alcaraz go head to head

Djokovic goes into the first slam of the year just 200 points ahead of Alcaraz, once last year’s points come off, and even Daniil Medvedev is also in the hunt

Zuma / Panoramic

Simon Cambers

January 9, 2024

The world No 1 ranking has been switching hands regularly over the past year and a half or so and 2024 promises to deliver more of the same, starting at the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic is currently No 1 with 11,055 points, well clear of Carlos Alcaraz, who has 8,855 points. However, with Djokovic having picked up 2,000 points for winning the title in 2023, things can change fast, and as soon as the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday.

For both men, picking up another Grand Slam would surely trump being No 1, with Djokovic chasing an all-time record-setting 25th slam and Alcaraz searching for his third. But being No 1 would doubtless be a nice bonus andis sure to be at least in the back of their minds.

Djokovic is obviously on pole and he’ll retain his No 1 ranking if he wins the title again, but if not, Alcaraz would take it if he wins the title. If Djokovic, who let’s not forget is a 10-time Australian Open champion, loses early, then Alcaraz would have a good chance to be No 1 without needing to win the title himself and Daniil Medvedev would also come into contention.

Medvedev also has outside chance to be No 1

The points from last year’s Australian Open drop off the computer on Jan 28, the end of the Australian Open, which means that Djokovic loses the 2,000 he won last year. With Alcaraz having missed the event in 2023, he has everything to gain and it’s even possible that Daniil Medvedev could return to No 1, though he knows that he has to win the title to have a chance.

Here are the totals for the current top three, with points for last year’s Australian Open taken off:

Novak Djokovic: 9,055 points
Carlos Alcaraz: 8,855
Daniil Medvedev: 7,465

Medvedev, therefore, has to win the title to move ahead of Djokovic but Alcaraz – 200 points behind in the live rankings (effectively) – would go No 1 if he wins more than 200 points more than Djokovic. If the Spaniard wins the title, then it makes the maths easy.