Tennis’ governing bodies have implemented profound alterations to the men’s professional ranking system. Terms such as dual-ranking or transition tour have been well-publicized.
These changes became official on January 1st of 2019, the D-Day. On the men’s tour, roughly two thirds of the formerly ranked players relinquished all their ATP points. Currently, only 679 men keep at least one ranking point.
In terms of ATP points, according to Open Era Rankings, David Pérez Sanz (Spain), Matías Franco Descotte (Argentina), and Alexander Zhurbin (Russia) are the three biggest losers of the reform, dropping 175, 138, and 131 points respectively.
On the other hand, also per OER, a bunch of players achieved their career-high spots on New Year’s Day. Among those who benefited from the revamp, Marko Djokovic stands out.
The middle brother of the Djokovic clan obtained five ATP points by winning his three qualifying matches at the Sevilla Challenger in August. That tournament was the fourth and last event Djokovic entered in 2018.
Becoming a pro player is no longer a goal for Marko. Aside from traveling around the globe in support of his older sibling, Marko is a cornerstone of Pepe Imaz’s tennis academy in Marbella, a city located on the southern coast of Spain.
As a teen, Marko received plenty of wild cards at Futures, Challengers and even tour-level competitions. However, the Serbian had topped out at world No. 581 on October 22, 2012. Ranking wise, per Tennis Abstract, his most prominent victim on the court had been No. 265 José Checa Calvo back in 2013…until he upended No. 252 Johan Sebastien Tatlot five months ago despite being semi-retired.
Now, all of the sudden, aided by a brand new ranking system, Marko Djokovic managed to elevate his ATP ranking to a career-high world No. 574.
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