ATP Rankings: Alcaraz retains top spot, Djokovic slips to third; Bopanna returns to top 10 in doubles

New Delhi: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain has returned to the top spot while Novak Djokovic slipped to third in the latest ATP Rankings released on Monday.

Before rising to the top spot in tennis rankings again, Alcaraz held the world No.1 ranking for 22 weeks with his 23rd week starting after the Italian Open.

The 20-year-old will be the top seed at this year’s French Open with Djokovic being the third seed, so they could land in the same half of the draw in Paris.

Djokovic, who was at the top of the rankings heading into the Italian Open, dropped to his lowest position on the ATP Tour since January after a surprise quarterfinal loss.

Fresh off his win at the Italian Open, Daniil Medvedev, ascended to the 2nd spot in the Rankings and is slated to be the second seed at the clay-court major.

Medvedev fell out of the Top 10 in January and was as low as World No.12 in February. But the 27-year-old has surged since, winning titles in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami and now Rome.

The 20-time tour-level titlist will now set his sights on a return to World No. 1, a position he first reached last year and held for 16 weeks.

The 20-year-old Dane Holger Rune attained a new career-high ranking of six with his run to the final in the Italian capital. Andrey Rublev, however, dropped a spot down to seventh.

The rest of the top 10 feature, Casper Ruud at 4, Stefanos Tsitispas at 5, Jannik Sinner at 8, Taylor Fritz at 9 and Felix Auger-Aliassime at 10.

In doubles, India’s Rohan Bopanna returned to the Top 10 after seven years. Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden lost in the second round in Rome but the Indian went up two spots to ninth.

Bopanna had also created a world record earlier this year — he became the oldest player ever to win an ATP Masters 1000 title when he won the ATP Indian Wells Masters partnering Matt Ebden.