Surprise at Indian Wells: Medvedev was eliminated and Djokovic will return to number 1

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev fell to Gael Monfils on Monday in the third round of Indian Wells and will lose his status as number one in the ATP ranking to Novak Djokovic. The Frenchman, number 28 in the ATP, gave the big surprise of the tournament by winning 4-6, 6-3 and 6-1 in the face of the jubilation of the Californian Masters 1000 fans.

Medvedev, who officially succeeded Djokovic as world number one on February 28, will return first place to him next Monday after the tournament is over. The Moscow tennis player needed to reach at least the quarterfinals to stay ahead of the ATP ranking when the new standings were released.

The 26-year-old, who had acknowledged before the event that he was under pressure to be number one, watched with frustration how his veteran rival took him back a starting set and paid his fight by crashing the racket to the ground in the third set. The catharsis did not work this time and the Russian player lost his next serve to a Monfils thrown to one of the great victories of his career.

Thousands of spectators celebrated the Parisian's victory at the center court of Indian Wells, the second largest in the world, where the Ukrainian flag flies alongside that of the United States in support of the European country in the face of the Russian invasion.

The Frenchman, with 11 titles on his record, is pursuing his first Masters 1000 trophy in a season in which he was champion in Adelaide and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. “I know that I am a tough opponent for anyone (...) It's great to have done it in the United States,” he said after the triumph.

Medvedev, who won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2021, is on the list of participants for the upcoming Masters 1000 in Miami (March 21 - April 3), where Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will not compete.

Meanwhile, Monfils, 35, will face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the round of 16 of Indian Wells, one of the great promises of world tennis at the age of 18. The pupil of former player Juan Carlos Ferrero continues to burn stages since he made his letter of introduction to the world of tennis in October with a dazzling victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas, then world number three, at the United States Open.

Weeks later Alcaraz won the Masters Next Gen, which brings together the best promises of the circuit, and in February he won his first ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro, beating Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the final. On Monday, in the third round in the Californian desert, he completed another impactful performance against compatriot Bautista, a veteran of the circuit with 10 titles in his showcase.

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With information from AFP