‘I had no idea!’ – Daniil Medvedev admits he was unaware Novak Djokovic loss would hand him number one spot

Daniil Medvedev has claimed that before Novak Djokovic lost to Jiri Vesely in Dubai he had no clue that such a result would push him to world number one. 

After the world number two reached the quarter-finals of Acapulco, Djokovic needed to reach the semi-finals to heap pressure on the Russian.

However, after the 20-time Slam champion failed to clinch the victory, Medvedev will be crowned the new ATP number one on Monday.

Speaking after his own quarter-final match to reach the last four in Mexico, Medvedev was lighthearted about the historic moment.

“I actually need to be honest,” he said after defeating Yoshihito Nishioka.

“Before Novak [Djokovic’s] match, I saw that he was losing but I didn’t know that if he loses I’m gonna become number one.

“I thought that I have to do something big here.

“So then when I was receiving all the messages, well I understood that yeah okay, it’s gonna happen.

“The first goal for me was to still win today because I’m here to try to win every match I play but it’s definitely some great news.”

Prior to the Djokovic loss, if Medvedev won Acapulco there was nothing the Serb could do to stop him topping the rankings next week.

Now, Medvedev will be at least 150 ranking points ahead of Djokovic on Monday, and he could be as far as 470 points ahead should he still claim the Mexican Open trophy.

But first the US Open champion must make his way through Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal in a rematch of their Melbourne showdown last month.

The Spaniard leads their head-to-head 4-1, with Medvedev’s only victory coming in the group stage of the 2020 ATP Finals.

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