New Delhi, 14 September (H.S.): Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, dropped out of the ATP rankings’ top 10 in the latest rankings released on Monday following his shock first-round defeat at the US Open. The 39-year-old is now ranked 12th in the world.

Djokovic was beaten by Argentina’s Mariano Navone in a marathon four-hour-and-36-minute first-round encounter at the US Open. Navone prevailed 7-6(5), 5-7, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

It was the first time since the 2006 Australian Open that Djokovic had been eliminated in the opening round of a Grand Slam tournament.

A four-time US Open champion, Djokovic reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows last year, where he lost to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. His inability to defend the ranking points he earned from that run resulted in his fall outside the top 10.

Djokovic first entered the ATP top 10 in 2007. He subsequently dropped out of the elite group in November 2017 after an elbow injury forced him to retire during his Wimbledon quarter-final and miss the remainder of the season. He returned to the top 10 after winning his fourth Wimbledon title in 2018.

Djokovic holds the ATP rankings record for spending the most weeks as world No. 1, having occupied the top position for 428 weeks.

Top 10 ATP Rankings

1. Jannik Sinner — 11,500 points

2. Alexander Zverev — 9,690 points

3. Carlos Alcaraz — 5,560 points

4. Ben Shelton — 4,680 points (+5)

5. Felix Auger-Aliassime — 3,890 points (-1)

6. Daniil Medvedev — 3,770 points (+2)

7. Flavio Cobolli — 3,720 points (-1)

8. Frances Tiafoe — 3,380 points (+4)

9. Alex de Minaur — 3,300 points (-2)

10. Taylor Fritz — 3,175 points

With Djokovic’s exit from the top 10, the ATP rankings have, for the first time since October 2002, no member of the so-called “Big Three” — Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal — among the leading 10 players.

Federer retired in 2022, while 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal ended his professional tennis career in 2024.

Zverev retained second place after winning his maiden US Open title, while also narrowing the points gap with world No. 1 Sinner. Sinner did not compete in New York this year because of a knee injury.

Shelton, who lost to Zverev in the final, climbed to a career-best fourth position. Tiafoe, who was defeated by Shelton in the semi-final, also achieved a career-high ranking, rising from 12th to eighth.

Medvedev, who reached the US Open round of 16, moved up from eighth to sixth. Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime, Cobolli and de Minaur all slipped in the rankings.

Indian Players’ Rankings

In doubles, Yuki Bhambri is ranked 44th, N. Sriram Balaji 49th, Niki Poonacha 87th, Anirudh Chandrasekar 88th, Siddhant Banthia 116th, Arjun Kadhe 142nd, Ritvik Choudhary Bollipalli 154th, Ramkumar Ramanathan 173rd, N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth 192nd and S.D. Prajwal Dev 196th.

In singles, Sumit Nagal is ranked 245th, Dakshineswar Suresh 364th and Manas Dhamne 366th.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar