It’s not often that we see a potential tie for the No. 1 spot in men’s tennis, but that’s exactly what could happen if Carlos Alcaraz emerges victorious at the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro this week.
If he does, he will join Novak Djokovic with 6,980 ranking points each.
But what happens in the event of a tie?
It turns out that there is a specific protocol in place, with Grand Slams, ATP Finals, and mandatory Masters 1000 events taking priority.
Djokovic currently has the edge in this regard, with 5,820 of his ranking points coming from those events, compared to Alcaraz’s 5,090.
Of course, if they’re still tied after that, other criteria must be considered.
It’s an interesting situation and one that underscores just how competitive the world of professional tennis can be.
It’s worth noting that if Wimbledon had taken place last year, Djokovic would be even farther ahead of the pack, but we’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
Ranking points for Djokovic and Alcaraz
These are the events that make up the majority of Djokovic’s ranking points:
- 2,000 points for winning the 2023 Australian Open
- 1,500 points for winning the 2022 ATP Finals
- 1,000 points for winning the 2022 Rome Masters
- 600 points for finishing runner-up in the 2022 Paris Masters
- 360 points for reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 Madrid Open
- 360 points for reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 French Open
These are the events that make up the majority of Alcaraz’s ranking points:
- 2,000 points for winning the 2022 US Open
- 1,000 points for winning the 2022 Miami Masters
- 1,000 points for winning the 2022 Madrid Open
- 360 points for reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 Indian Wells Masters
- 360 points for reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 French Open
- 180 points for reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 Cincinnati Masters
- 180 points for reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 Paris Masters
- 10 points for reaching the second round of the 2022 Canada Masters.
