At the age of just 19 years and 214 days, Alcaraz has gone past Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt (20 years and 275 days) to become the youngest to achieve the feat. He is also the first player outside of the Big 4 — Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray — to achieve the year-end No. 1 ranking.
The Spaniard was placed in the 32nd position when the season began, making his feat all the more impressive. Speaking at a press conference, Alcaraz stated that it was an honor for him to register his name alongside the legends of the sport.
He added that he would have been happy even if his idol Nadal had won in Turin and became the World No. 1. Alcaraz also revealed that he was rooting for Djokovic in the match between him and Tsitsipas.
“I don’t want to go into discussion if I played less or more” - Novak Djokovic on Carlos Alcaraz’s year-end No.1 ranking
Due to his unvaccinated status against COVID-19, Novak Djokovic missed quite a few important tournaments in 2022 - including the Australian Open and the US Open. Djokovic did win the Wimbledon Championships, but there were no ranking points awarded to any player for that tournament.
It is for these reasons that many fans believe the Serb would have been the top-ranked player if he had played throughout the season.
But in a press conference after beating Andrey Rublev on Wednesday, Djokovic lauded Carlos Alcaraz for his accomplishments and stated that he deserved the year-end No. 1 spot.
0 votes
