The US Open will define the new number one in the ranking: because Nadal can get back in the lead even if he falls in the first round

The US Open It will kick off this Monday with the fight for one of the circuit’s most prestigious titles as the main attraction. But the last Grand Slam of the season, which will be played on the hard court Billie Jean King National Tennis Centerwill have a special seasoning in this edition, because it will also bring the number one in the world into play.

After being discharged due to injury alexander zverev (2nd), five players will be protagonists of the fight for the first place in the standings, but one will start as the big favorite, the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who could return to the top even by losing in the first round. His rivals in that race will be the Russian Daniel Medvedevcurrent leader of the ranking, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipasyour compatriot Carlos Alcaraz and Norwegian Casper Ruud. Here’s a rundown of what everyone needs to get to the top in New York.

Rafael Nadal

Nadalthird in the standings, he is the best positioned in that group to stay at number 1, because he must not defend any point. It is that last year the curtain fell on his season in August, after competing almost all year with a pain in his left foot in which he suffered from a chronic injury, and he did not play the US Open. He will thus start with 5,630 points, the same points he accumulates today, and will depend on himself to recover the first step of the world ranking, which he last held in February 2020.

If he wins the title, his fifth in New York and his 23rd in a Grand Slam, he will ensure a return to the top. He will return to that position even if none of his four opponents reach the final, regardless of his own performance. Other combinations of results that would leave him the leader: if he loses in the quarterfinals neither Medvedev nor Tsitsipas reach the final and neither Alcaraz nor Ruud lift the trophy; if he reaches the semifinals and none of the other four shouts champion; or if he loses the final, but not against the Russian.

Daniel Medvedev

Medvedev, current leader of the standings, will put into play the two thousand points obtained last year by raising Flushing Mews his first – and so far only – “big” trophy. Therefore, the race will start with 4,885 units. If he renews the title he will stay with 6,885 and keep the number one, which he had in his possession for three weeks last February and which he recovered on June 13, after having dethroned again, Novak Djokovic.

If he makes it to the final he could also stay in the lead, but he will have to hope that neither Tsitsipas, nor Alcaraz nor Ruud will win the title and that Nadal will say goodbye before the semifinal. But if he does not reach the decisive point, he will relinquish the command.

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Tsitsipas got into the fight for “1” reaching the final of the Cincinnati Masters 1000who lost to the Croatian Borna Coric. Eliminated in 2021 in the third round of the North American Grand Slam, he will only have to defend 90 of the 4,890 points he has today; but it does not depend on itself.

There are two possible combinations of results that would allow the Greek, currently in the fifth passage, to arrive at the first. If he wins the title and sets his record in this category, beating a player other than Nadal in the final. Or if he loses the final, but not against Medvedev, Alcaraz or Ruud and the Majorcan does not reach the semifinals. If he succeeds, he will not only rise to the top of the rankings for the first time, but he will also become the first tennis player in his country to be number one.

Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud

The view for Alcaraz and Ruud is the same, and quite similar to what they have in front of Tsitsipas. One of the two will reach one if he becomes champion against a rival other than Nadal or falls in the final against one of the other three rivals in this fight (Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Ruud, in the case of the Spaniard; the Russian, the Greek and Charlie, for the Norwegian) and Rafa says goodbye before the quarterfinals.

Murcian, now fourth in the ATP with 5,190 and one of the best players of the season (four titles, including the Miami Master 1000 Y Madrid and record of 44-9), will lose in the next update the 90 points of Winston Salem’s semifinal, which is played this week without him in the draw. And he will also defend 360 quarters of the 2021 US Open.

If he leaves New York with the “1” in his possession, Charlie will become the youngest player in history to reach the top. At 19 years and four months he will overtake the Australian Leyton Hewittwho took it at 20 years and 9 months and is the current owner of that earliness mark.

Ruud, seventh in the standings with 4,695, will be giving away a few units during his stay in the Big Apple: just 45, which he added last year by falling in the second round. Winner this year in Buenos Aires, Geneva Y gstaadall tournaments on clay, could make the history of his country by being the first to plant the Norwegian flag at the top of the world rankings.

The former top 5, 25 years old, born in Oslo, is already the first Norwegian tennis player to win an ATP title and to enter the top four of a Grand Slam, a result he achieved in June, when he was a finalist in Roland Garros (lost to Nadal). He is also the highest in the rankings: before him, the highest in the rankings had followed his father / coach, Christian, 39th in 1995.