Djokovic soars in ATP rankings after re-writing history in Melbourne

THE Australian Open, which is the first grand slam of the calendar year, may have come and gone but its memories still linger on. New stars were discovered, old warriors were brushed aside, records were broken and hopes were dashed. Stanislaus Wawrinka, last year’s champion, has fallen to an alarming ninth position in the newly released rankings to kick off the year; because of his inability to defend his 2000 points from his victory last year, as he fell to the eventual champion, Novak Djokovic in the semi finals. 

   World number one, Novak Djokovic, created history by becoming the first man in the Open era to win five Australian Open titles on Sunday. He is now just a title short of equaling the Australian legend, Roy Emerson, after defeating Andy Murray for the third time in a final at Melbourne Park to clinch his eighth slam championship crown. 

  The Serb is now in eighth place on the all-time list for most major titles and is projected to do better with the gradual decline of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, his stiffest rivals. 

  In the rankings released yesterday by the ATP Tour, the Serb is now a clear 3,800 points ahead of his closest rival, Federer, due to his win on Sunday.   

  Federer and Nadal still maintained their respective seeding but Andy Murray jumped to number four in the rankings. By virtue of this, ‘The Big Four,’ as the first four seeds were known, is back as we know it, for now. 

  Nick Kyrgios, Bernard Tomic, Marcos Baghaditis and Sam Groth were the greatest movers in the rankings. 

    The 27-year-old Serb and father of one has always regarded the Australian Open as his favorite and it seems to agree with him as it has been his most successful slam so far. The French Open has eluded him till date, preventing him from completing a career grand slam and joining an elite group of players that have calendar slams. He has been to the finals on several occasions, but has been denied by Nadal, who has won it a record nine times. Djokovic is hoping to get it this year, but according to him, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if he did not.