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The big news on this Monday, of course, is a changing of the guard atop the ATP Tour rankings.

For the first time since Andy Roddick back in 2004, someone not named Djokovic, Nadal, Federer or Murray sits in the No. 1 spot.

Daniil Medvedev clinched that after his second-round win in Acapulco, and Novak Djokovic’s quarterfinal loss to Jiri Vesely in Dubai.

WTA Rankings Report – as of Feb. 28, 2022

The Russian has 23 tournaments on his ranking sheet; Djokovic has just 13.

How long it lasts, is up for grabs depending on how Medvedev does during the “Sunshine Double” next month.

There were other big movers as well, including Vesely, who went from the qualifying to the final in Dubai.

(For the complete, updated ATP Tour rankings, click here).

ON THE UPSWING

Daniil Medvedev (RUS): No. 2 ========> No. 1 (The newly-minted No. 1 has a quarterfinal from the 2021 Miami Open – 180 points – he must cover. And before that, another 250 from last year’s win in Marseille that he needs to cover at Indian Wells. His 90 points from a fourth-round effort in 2021 in the desert don’t fall off until October).

Rafael Nadal (ESP): No. 5 ========> No. 4 (He’s undefeated this year at 15-0, with victories in Melbourne, at the Australian Open and, on Saturday night, In Acapulco. As little tennis as he’d had in the previous six months, and surgery – and COVID late in 2021 – it’s an impressive return).

Andrey Rublev (RUS): No. 7 ========> No. 6 (Rublev does the Middle East double, winning in Doha and Dubai)

Hubert Hurkacz (POL): No. 11 ========> No. 10 (In making the Dubai semis, Hurkacz slips past Jannik Sinner – by ONE point – to return to the top 10).

Denis Shapovalov (CAN): No. 14 ========> No. 13 (The Canadian moves up one with his Dubai semifinal).

Roger Federer (SUI): No. 29 ========> No. 27 (It’s almost funny at this point – funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha – that the rehabbing Federer rameins in the top 30 despite not having played since Wimbledon last year. But it is what it is. He still has 500 points left from winning Miami in 2019, which will drop after this year’s event. And another 90 after Madrid, and 45 more from Doha on March 21. But his 600 remaining points from his Wimbledon final in 2019 are good until July).

*Yup, Federer is back in the top 25. (Photo: AELTC/ Florian Eisele)*

Tallon Griekspoor (NED): No. 57 ========> No. 54 (Another career high for Griekspoor this week, despite being idle. He’s less than 50 points out of the top 50, and will be a formidable No. 2 for the Netherlands when they face Canada this weekend at Davis Cup).

Marcos Giron (USA): No. 59 ========> No. 55 (Giron’s quarterfinal in Acapulco caps off some very good tennis during this American swing. He’s at another career high).

Pedro Martinez (ESP): No. 72 ========> No. 50 (Martinez, 24 moves into the top 50 and a career high, after an emotional victory over Sebastian Baez in the Santiago final.

Sebastian Baez (ARG): No. 78 ========> No. 62 (A year ago, Baez was at No. 257. After reaching the Santiago final, he’s at another career high).

Jiri Vesely (CZE): No. 123 ========> No. 74 (Quite a run for the qualifier in Dubai beating Bautista Agut, Djokovic and Shapovalov in his way to the final. It’s a jump that will eliminate a lot of qualifying from the future of the 28-year-old lefty, whose career high of No. 35 came back in 2015).

Andy Murray (GBR): No. 89 ========> No. 84 (It’s still to be determined if Murray can get back to where he wants to be. But every match he wins helps, and he rises another five spots).

Ricardas Berankis (LTU): No. 99 ========> No. 86 (The 31-year-old qualified in Dubai and was stopped in the quarterfinals by Shapovalov).

Alejandro Tabilo (CHI): No. 113 ========> No. 100 (The Canadian-turned-Chilean backed up his final in Cordoba with a semifinal at “home” in Santiago. And he leaps into the top 100 for the first time in his career at age 24).

Taro Daniel (JPN): No. 111 ========> No. 101 (Daniel, who got to No. 64 a few years ago, has come achingly close SO many times in a quest to return to the top 100. He misses by 16 points this time, after qualifying and winning a round in Dubai, offset by 20 points he was defending from that Singapore event in 2021. He has another 55 points dropping next week).

Quentin Halys (FRA): No. 142 ========> No. 120 (If Halys, whose career high is No. 102, beats Pospisil and wins the Pau Challenger, he would rise to 120).

Stefan Kozlov (USA): No. 130 ========> No. 122 (Kozlov’s saga in beating cramps and Grigor Dimitrov in Acapulco won’t soon be forgotten. It’s a great story. But practically, being a lucky and winning a round gets him nine spots in the rankings. It feels like it should be more).

Vasek Pospisil (CAN): No. 155 ========> No. 139 (Pospisil is trying to work his ranking back up on the Challenger circuit, and is in the Pau Challenger final. If he wins, he can get back to No. 130).

Jack Draper (GBR): No. 162 ========> No. 145 (The young Brit gets into the top 150 after reaching the final of the Forli Challenger. If he wins? Another six spots to No. 144).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Novak Djokovic (SRB): No. 1 ========> No. 2 (Djokovic had 500 points on the docket from winning Dubai in 2020. Making the quarterfinals wasn’t enough, and Daniil Medvedev slipped past him. Djokovic was No. 1 every single week since the end of the Australian Open in 2020. On the plus side for Djokovic, he has no points to defend from Indian Wells, and only 45 points from a surprising fourth-round loss to Roberto Bautista Agut in Miami all the way back in 2019. Yes, it’s like that; there are still 50 per cent of points from a lot of events still hang around – including Monte Carlo and Madrid. Djokovic didn’t play either in 2021).

Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE): No. 4 ========> No. 5 (He didn’t defend last year’s Acapulco finalist’s points. On the plus side, he won the doubles with Feliciano Lopez).

Taylor Fritz (USA): No. 16 ========> No. 20 (Losing in the second round in Acapulco, after making the final there in 2020, drops Fritz four spots. More notably – the idle Reilly Opelka, who pulled out of Acapulco after deep runs in Dallas and Delray, moves up to No. 17 and currently stands as the No. 1 American).

Gael Monfils (FRA): No. 25 ========> No. 28 (Monfils drops his points from a 2020 semifinal in Dubai, as he’s been off for a few weeks with some physical issues that may, but have not been conclusively determined – to have popped up following his COVID vaccine booster).

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL): No. 33 ========> No. 36 (Poor Dimitrov got caught in the incredible drama of his cramping opponent Stefan Kozlov in Acapulco. He ended up losing the first-round match, thus not defending 180 points he earned by making the semifinals there in 2020).

David Goffin (BEL): No. 48 ========> No. 68 (It’s unclear if he’s 100 percent healthy, but the 31-year-old seems a bit jaded this year, and he went out in the first round in Dubai, thus failing to defend his points from winning the ATP 250 in Montpellier in 2021. At that point, he was No. 14 in the world).

Richard Gasquet (FRA): No. 73 ========> No. 82 (Gasquet pulled out of Dubai because of a knee issue, and thus did not defend his remaining points from making the quarterfinals there in 2020).

Alexei Popyrin (AUS): No. 66 ========> No. 90 (Popyrin got into Dubai as a lucky loser and won a round. But he had a lot of points to defend from winning an ATP tournament in Singapore last year (which was not held this year), so he drops quite a bit. His career high of No. 59 came last November).

Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA): No. 101 ========> No. 112 (Like Djokovic, Herbert has opted not to be vaccinated. And that limits his playing options considerably. He has played in France mostly, and lost in the second round of a Challenger there last week, thus dropping his points from a second-round effort in Dubai back in 2020. He’ll drop a further 150 points in three weeks from his final in Marseille a year ago).

Juan Manuel Cerundolo (ARG): No. 79 ========> No. 119 (As a 19-year-old a year ago, Cerundolo shocked basically everyone by winning the Cordoba tournament. He hasn’t been healthy in trying to back it up during the South American clay-court circuit. And as a result of his first-round loss in Santiago, drops all of his points from winning the title in 2021 out of the qualifying).

Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA): No. 135 ========> No. 216 (Seyboth Wild, who is dealing with off-court charges of domestic violance, loses in the second round of Santiago and, as the defending champion, drops almost exactly half his ranking points and fall out of the top 200).

Stan Wawrinka (SUI): No. 189 ========> No. 237 (Wawrinka is supposedly coming back during the clay season. But in the meantime, he continues to drop points – this week, from a quarterfinal effort in Acapulco back in 2020, before the pandemic).

Steven Diez (CAN): No. 258 ========> No. 294 (The 30-year-old Spanish-Canadian has been scuffling for awhile now – he dropped way down to the $25K ITF level last week in Antalya as the No. 1 seed, and was beaten in the quarterfinals. Diez’s points from making the final of a Challenger in Gran Canaria a year ago fall off. He will be part of the Canadian Davis Cup effort against the Netherlands this weekend, but not exactly coming in high on confidence).

Ernests Gulbis (LAT): No. 248 ========> No. 324 (At 33, the former No. 10 has continued to try to get back to viability on the Challenger circuit. But after qualifying in Pau, he lost in the second round and with the 100 points from winning in Pau last year that he didn’t defend, drops precipitously).