Novak Djokovic in prime position to reclaim world No 1 spot in rankings he endorses

Novak Djokovic continues to win at the Australian Open

Novak Djokovic has been knocked off the world No 1 position by Jannik Sinner in the latest UTR rankings, yet the Serbian is in pole position to reclaim the top spot when he returns to action.

The UTR Rating, created by UTR Sports, is a rankings system that offers a more accurate state of play of current form in the game, with results against opponents ranked ahead of you in the rankings giving a boost to a player’s decimal-point number.

So Sinner’s three wins in his last four meetings against Djokovic at the ATP Finals, Davis Cup and Australian Open allowed him to oust the 24-time Grand Slam champion from the top of the UTR list after the Australian Open.

Now the ranking algorithm that saw Italian Sinner leap to the top of the rankings last month could swing back in favour of Djokovic, who still holds a solid lead in the ATP rankings list.

A victory for Djokovic over Sinner if the pair meet at next month’s Indian Wells tournament would boost the ranking of the Serbian and may well allow him to regain the top spot.

It will also be more difficult for Sinner to improve his UTR Rating as quickly as he has done in recent months because as the new No 1, he won’t have a chance to beat players with a higher ranking.

Djokovic and Sinner could meet at Indian Wells and after the young gun appeared to have found a way to beat the legendary champion in recent months, the tennis world will be watching if the new ‘big two’ in men’s tennis lock horns once again.

What is the UTR Rating?

The UTR Rating is a system that promotes fair and competitive play worldwide. All players, regardless of age, gender, geography, or skill level are rated on the same scale between 1.00 and 16.50 based on actual match results.

UTR Sports partners include Tennis Australia, Team8, Novak Djokovic, and Tennis Channel.

“The UTR Rating is the best way to measure yourself against all other players regardless of their age or skill level,” Djokovic said.

READ MORE: Novak Djokovic’s fall from world No 1 ranking confirmed in updated list

What is WTN?

There’s more than one rating system out there. The International Tennis Federation created the World Tennis Number in 2021, rating players on a scale of 40 (beginner) to 1 (professional) with an algorithm that “uses match results from 2016 onwards to calculate a player’s number.”

The algorithm updates weekly and shows up to one decimal point.

Which rating is the best?

In an April 2023 study titled in part, “Which global tennis rating better measures player skill?”, Duke University professors William J. Mayew and Rebecca L. Mayew studied whether the UTR Rating or the WTN would “better predict head-to-head match success.”

They analyzed 1,532 matches played by 870 boys and girls at the USTA’s 2022 Junior National Championships and found that the UTR Rating was more accurate than WTN, 73.9% to 70.4%.

A recent social poll by College Tennis Nation found that 93% of Twitter users and 89% of Instagram users think UTR is better than WTN. Notably, Zero Division 1 head coaches voted for WTN on Instagram.

The UTR Rating is for all players, regardless of age, gender, and geography. The rating is calculated by an algorithm that uses a player’s last 30 eligible matches in the past 12 months, which updates daily and shows two decimal points for maximum accuracy. Match results from across the world are imported regularly into the UTR Sports database.

One of the biggest ways UTR Rating separates itself from the other ratings is its connection with college tennis.

“UTR Sports has revolutionized college tennis. We don’t talk about any player without talking about his UTR Rating,” said Ian Duvenhage, men’s tennis head coach at Vanderbilt University for 17 years.

College coaches rely heavily upon a player’s UTR Rating in recruitment, making it an important part of junior player development.

“We get multiple emails a day from players and UTR is the first spot we go,” said Lee Taylor Walker, women’s tennis head coach at TCU.

“Not only do they have a rating, but let’s go to all their results where you can compare them to who they’ve played. It helps you be non-emotional about the process… You need some objective criteria where you can start.”