Carlos Alcaraz Intent On Being Year-End No. 1

Carlos Alcaraz is looking to become the first man since Roger Federer nearly a decade ago (2004-8) to defend his U.S. Open title — and he has other goals in mind, too.

Alcaraz, 20, wants to be the year-end No. 1 ahead of top rival Novak Djokovic.

Alcaraz, the top seed at the Open, is currently No. in the world, but Djokovic will regain the top ranking on Sept. 11 after the Open. Because he couldn’t play last year and had no rankings points to defend, Djokovic needed only get to the second round to guarantee he would take the top spot back from Alcaraz, who has 2000 points to defend. It will be Djokovic’s 390th week atop the rankings, extending his own record.

“I knew that he was going to recover the No. 1 after U.S. Open,” Alcaraz said Tuesday night after advancing past Dominik Koepfer, 6-3, 3-2, due to walkover because of Koepfer’s ankle injury. “When the tournament is over, I will try to recover as soon as possible. That’s my goal. I am working for that.”

This will be the seventh change this year in the world No. 1 ranking as Alcaraz and Djokovic are engaged in a heated battle atop the rankings. The record was 10 in 1983 when John McEnroe finished the year at No. 1.

Djokovic, 36, began the year by winning the first two legs of the calendar Grand Slam at the Australian and French Opens before Alcaraz beat the Serb in a thrilling five-set Wimbledon final.

Djokovic then gained some measure of revenge by coming from a set and a break down to beat Alcaraz in the Western & Southern Open final after it appeared he might buckle from the brutal heat.

At the U.S. Open, Djokovic is a slight betting favorite over Alcaraz and appears to have the easier path to the final. The two highest seeds left on Djokovic’s half of the draw are No. 5 Casper Ruud and No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas. Djokovic is 5-0 against Ruud and has never lost a set to him. Djokovic is 10-0 in his last 10 matches against Tsitsipas and has lost only one set to him in their last five matches.

Alcaraz, meantime, could face No. 6 Jannik Sinner, one of the game’s biggest hitters, or No. 12 Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals and then 2021 champion and No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev in the semis ahead of a possible championship showdown with Djokovic on Sept. 10.

“The season has a lot of tournaments until the year is over,” Alcaraz said. “I’ll try to recover [No. 1] before the tournament end, before the year end.”