Alcaraz lit the door to defend the top of the ATP table against Djokovic
The results of the draw on March 20 made Alcaraz different from Daniil Medvedev. The two top-performing ATP players can only meet if they reach the final. In the Alcaraz bracket, his potential opponents could be Andy Murray in the third round, Tommy Paul in the fourth round, Taylor Fritz or Holger Rune in the quarterfinals and Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.
Miami Open 2023 is the eighth major tournament Novak Djokovic is banned from attending, because he has not been vaccinated against Covid-19. The Serbian tennis player was denied entry by the host country of the United States. Nole also just missed the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells for the same reason.
"We do everything to get Djokovic to play, because we want to have the best players in the tournament," said former tennis player James Blake, director of the Miami Open. "But there are things that are beyond our control." The policy banning unvaccinated foreigners from entering the US is expected to be lifted on May 11.
Miami Open kicks off from March 22, with a total prize money of $ 8.8 million. In which, the champion received 1.26 million USD and 1000 bonus points. Alcaraz needs to defend his title in Miami, or he doesn't want to lose his world number one spot to Djokovic after the tournament. The Spaniard, who won the Indian Wells title last week, became the eighth person to have ever won two "Sunshine Double" events, including Indian Wells and Miami.
If Alcaraz wins Miami, the 19-year-old will have 22 weeks at the top of the ATP table. This number is more than other former world number one, such as Daniil Medvedev (16 weeks), Andy Roddick (13 weeks), Boris Becker (12 weeks), Marat Safin (9 weeks) or current Alcaraz coach - Juan Carlos Ferrero (8 weeks).
The race between Alcaraz and Djokovic promises to continue to be intense in the clay season, when Djokovic has to defend 1,880 points and Alcaraz is 1,870 points. Both reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and won a Masters 1000 clay last year.
