Djokovic Drops to 12th in ATP Rankings, Exits Top 10
Novak Djokovic dropped to 12th in the ATP rankings released on September 14, losing 790 points and falling outside the top 10 for the first time since July 2018.
Mariano Navone is not a name that strikes fear on tour. The Argentine beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the first round of the US Open on August 27, and that night the result looked like a stumble, the kind that gets forgotten by the next Grand Slam. Nine days later that win carried real weight, and today, September 14, it became official on the ATP rankings.
The Serbian player dropped seven spots on the new list and is now the 12th ranked player in the world with 2,980 points. For comparison, on the Davis Cup squad list from September 7, less than a week earlier, he was still ranked fifth in the world. According to Tanjug, he lost 790 points compared to the previous rankings, exactly what he had carried from his run to the same stage at last year’s US Open, points he could no longer defend after losing in the first round this year.
For someone who built a career on barely moving out of the top 10, this is a rare sight. According to Nova.rs, Djokovic was last outside the top 10 in July 2018, when he had briefly dropped as far as 22nd because of an elbow injury. Since then he had been a constant at the top, season after season, until now.
The top of the list reads as follows: Jannik Sinner remains first with 11,500 points, and Alexander Zverev held on to second place with 9,690, boosted by his US Open title last week, which cut his gap to Sinner to just under 2,000 points. Behind them, in the middle of the top ten, Arthur Fils sits ahead of Djokovic with 3,150 points, while right behind him, in 13th, is Learner Tien with 2,755. The gap between 11th and 13th is less than 400 points, meaning the three names will likely keep swapping places over the coming months.
The season Djokovic is closing out was not bad, just uneven. He reached the Australian Open final, made the Wimbledon semifinal, then suffered two early exits that hurt his results, first an unexpectedly early loss at the French Open, then the first round defeat to Navone in New York. Those two tournaments alone cost him his top 10 spot.
His schedule does offer a quick chance to bounce back. Djokovic is on the preliminary entry list for the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing, which starts on September 28, where he would play for the first time in 11 years if he takes part. The list is only a provisional announcement for now, and his participation depends mainly on how his body responds after the exertion of New York. With two or three good results before the end of the season, a return to the top 10, even the top 5, remains realistically within reach.
He will definitely not be at the Davis Cup. Serbia captain Viktor Troicki has announced the squad for the tie against Lithuania, scheduled for September 19 and 20 at the Cair Hall in Nis, and Djokovic’s name is not on it. Serbia will be represented by Miomir Kecmanovic, Hamad Medjedovic, Ognjen Milic and Branko Djuric, in a match that carries a spot in the qualifiers for the 2027 Davis Cup Final 8.
For Djokovic, the next checkpoint is Beijing, September 28. Until then, only one thing is being counted: how ready his body is to hold up for another tournament after a grueling season.
