Djokovic's Hurdles To 311 Weeks At No. 1

Now that Novak Djokovic is back at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, the climb to 311 weeks as the world No. 1 is back on. Roger Federer set the record at 310 weeks, meaning Djokovic needs to remain at the top of the rankings for another 33 weeks to tie Federer's record. This would arguably be the greatest record on a long list of accomplishments for the 17-time major champion.

Djokovic needs to remain at the top of the rankings until September 28 in order to tie Federer's record and there are a handful of different challenges that Djokovic will face as he tries to remain on top while defending 5,175 ranking points during that span.

The most immediate threat to Djokovic's No. 1 ranking is Rafael Nadal, who is currently just 325 points behind in the rankings. The two players that have played each other in professional tennis matches more than any duo in the open era have almost exactly the same amount of points to defend between now and the conclusion of the Masters Series 1000 in Madrid. That means Nadal has a three-month span to try to recover the No. 1 ranking.

Here is how many ranking points have been earned by the top players in the nine months since last year's tournament in Madrid:

1. Novak Djokovic - 8,405
2. Rafael Nadal - 8,090
3. Dominic Thiem - 5,085
3. Daniil Medvedev - 5,085
5. Roger Federer - 4,850

If Nadal does not retake the No.1  ranking during his 3-month window, Daniil Medvedev will actually become Djokovic's biggest threat to the top ranking. Medvedev became much less of a threat after his early exit at the Australian Open, but his run in the United States last summer gives him a large sum of ranking points that he won't have to defend for a while.

Here are the ranking points earned by each player since last year's tournament in Hamburg:

1. Novak Djokovic - 5,085
2. Daniil Medvedev - 4,795
3. Rafael Nadal - 4,370
4. Dominic Thiem - 3,775
5. Stefanos Tsitsipas - 2,695
6. Alexander Zverev - 2,610
7. Roger Federer - 2,250
8. Andrey Rublev - 1,640

If Djokovic can remain the world No. 1 through the conclusion of Hamburg, his next biggest threat will become Dominic Thiem. Of course, a lot can change over the next five months. However, as of now, Thiem is the player who is the closest to Djokovic in terms of ranking points won that won't have to be defended until October.

These are the ranking points earned since October 2019:

1. Novak Djokovic - 4,545
2. Dominic Thiem - 3,335
3. Stefanos Tsitsipas - 2,485
4. Alexander Zverev - 1,990
5. Roger Federer - 1,620
6. Daniil Medvedev - 1,445
7. Rafael Nadal - 1,370
8. Andrey Rublev - 1,165

Nadal will probably remain Djokovic's biggest threat for the No. 1 ranking throughout the 2020 season, because the points he will accumulate on clay could put him back in striking distance in September. However, Nadal's path back to No. 1 is hurt by how few points he has earned since the 2019 US Open. He has to strike while the opportunity is there. Meanwhile, a strong clay season for Medvedev or Thiem could spell trouble for Djokovic as the next generation of players may get their long-awaited chance to finally dethrone the greatest trio of tennis players that the sport has ever seen.