After 932 days, the Indian Wells Masters have finally "returned" to the tennis world!
The tennis court under the palm trees is back in the air, and the Big Three and defending champion Tim are nowhere to be seen. The four champions announced their early retirement for various reasons, which means that there will be new champions at this year's Indian Wells Masters!
Who will the new king be? Medvedev? The Russian, who played with the top seed, is indeed the biggest favorite to win the tournament; but even with the support of the US Open champion, Medvedev's comprehensive strength has not yet reached the detachment of the Big Three. A group of people, including Tsitsipas and Zverev, have the possibility of holding up crystal cups!
Speaking at two ends, putting aside the slight gap in strength, Medvedev, who became the US Open champion, appeared in the desert of Southern California and at least solved the "urgent need" of tournament director Haas; this game, known as the "fifth Grand Slam", finally avoided the embarrassment of not having a legitimate Grand Slam men's singles champion!
Especially in the context of Medvedev's successful victory, he will replace Djokovic as the world number one on November 1. This is also a heavyweight gimmick for the rebooted event! The battle for the foundation of a new era? After an unprecedented wave of big-name players retiring, Medvedev's big gift came at the right time!
Before we delve into the significance of Medvedev's becoming number one in the world, let's first clarify why the Russians were able to reach the top at this moment! As Djokovic announces his retirement, 23 points earned by the Serbians at the 2019 tournament will be deducted; on October 18, 180 points earned by Djokovic at the 2019 Shanghai Masters will be deducted. By 1 November, 1,000 championship points from the 2019 Deyo Deutschy Masters in Paris and 90 points from the 2020 Vienna Open will be deducted. This means that Djokovic's points will drop to 10,340 points.
Also as of November 1, Medvedev's deduction of points is: 1000 championship points at the 2019 Shanghai Masters, 90 points in Vienna in 2020, 45 points in St. Petersburg in 2020, and 10 points in the Rome Masters, at which time the Russians have 9450 points left. If Medvedev can win the championship in Indian Wells, with 1,000 championship points, Medvedev's points on November 1 will reach 10,450 points, temporarily overpowering Djokovic with a slight advantage of 110 points, becoming the 27th world number one since ATP has its own points system! It is also the third Russian men's singles world number one since Kafernikov and Safin!
With 2,500 championship points deducted from last year's Paris Masters and London Finals, Medvedev will be overtaken by Djokovic again on November 8. But even if it's only a week, it will break the monopoly of the Big Four on the world's first for 17 and a half years since February 2, 2004! (A little tip, the last non-Big Four world number one was American Roddick!) That's right, the fat guy who talked to Federer on the Laver Cup! ）
The symbolism of Medvedev's ability to unlock this achievement at this time is self-evident; considering that the Russians accomplished this feat in Djokovic with extraordinary dominance! Four Grand Slams and four finals won three championships, and it is no doubt that Djojoru finally won the year-end world number one. But even so, in the 2021 Des clan dynasty wedge this week, in addition to proving that Medvedev has been infinitely close to the giant in terms of stability attributes, more importantly, at the moment when Fernard is aging, Medvedev first won the US Open and then became the world's first, a series of clear signals almost announced that the post-three giant era is about to open!