Tennis: Djokovic On Pace To Surpass Federer, Benefits From Bizarre Coronavirus Situation

KEY POINTS

The coronavirus has halted the flow of the tennis ranking system
Novak Djokovic remains on top of the rankings
If no change is to be made, he can easily overtake Federer without playing

Tennis has halted in the interim with the coronavirus posing as a threat to everyone’s safety. The suspension, cancelation and postponement of the tennis tournaments have created an unusual situation within the tour’s schedule.

It has resulted in a bizarre predicament in terms of the player rankings. Tennis rankings take into account how a player performs in the span of the entire year. They accumulate points depending on the tournament that they compete in.

The rankings are currently frozen meaning their ranking as of March 2020 will remain until the suspension is lifted. The ranking system works for now because it is dependent on a continuous cycle 52-week cycle. But due to the global pandemic, it has been greatly affected as it disrupted the constant play of tournaments across the world.

With all of these, this puts World Number One Novak Djokovic in the advantage. Djokovic has not lost for the entire 2020 and is currently on top of the rankings. His last loss was in the ATP World Tour Finals where he dropped the match in straight sets against Roger Federer. Ever since then he has won the ATP Cup, was victorious in the Australian Open and most recently cruised through the Dubai Tennis Championships.

While points are frozen as a solution to the sudden hiatus of the games, the history books remain unchanged. Per ESPN, Djokovic has spent a total of 281 weeks on top. He is only five weeks away from surpassing tennis legend Pete Sampras.

With the season on hold and Djokovic still on top, he is on pace to surpass Federer in an unusual manner. Federer has a total of 310 weeks as world number one and the months without tennis can greatly help the Serbian take over.

There have been suggestions already to freeze not only the points but also the statistical records. The time of the global pandemic will not be counted as part of the tennis season. It would entail a complicated series of discussions and while that still hasn’t been formalized yet, Djokovic remains to be the best in the world.