Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic Engage In Tight Race To World Number One

Tennis’ Big Three is currently limited to two stars now with Roger Federer sitting out the next few months to recover from his knee surgery. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are the favored to win the succeeding next tournaments in the first quarter of the year.

This week alone they’ve garnered separate titles on their own from different parts of the world. Nadal claimed the Mexican Open while Djokovic was victorious in the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships. These wins put the two are in a tight competition against one another to claim the World Number One spot. Both of these top athletes dominated these finals in straight sets.

Djokovic is currently on top with 10,220 points while Nadal is trailing with 9,850. The scenario for Nadal to claim the top spot would have to be winning the Indian Wells Masters while hoping for Djokovic to not reach a top-four spot in the tournament. This might be a difficult predicament for the Spaniard as Djokovic has been undefeated in 2020.

Djokovic has been on one of the best starts of his career. In 2020 alone he has led Serbia to win the ATP Cup. He then followed it up with the first Major of the year as he won his 17th Grand Slam in the Australian Open. His most recent straight-set win against Stefanos Tsitsipas sealed his fifth Dubai Tennis Championships.

The Indian Wells will prove to be an equalizer if Djokovic slips in the early stages of the tournament. This can be the opening for Nadal to take over and claim the number one spot. While it is a high honor for Nadal to have, he shared that he doesn’t see it as his top priority. “I play where it makes me happy and I have the best options to enjoy and play well,” he said.

Nadal has three Indian Wells titles under his achievements while Djokovic has had five in the BNP Paribas Open. It will be interesting to see how the top players fare out in the succeeding tournaments.