MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev climbed up one spot in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings of the world’s best tennis players, according to the ATP Rankings list released on Monday.

Competing at the ATP’s 2023 "Rome Masters" in Italy earlier this month, Medvedev reached the tournament final and on Sunday defeated Holger Rune of Denmark in straight sets (7-5; 7-5).

The 2023 ATP 1000 Italian Open was a clay court event that took place at the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome on May 9-21 and offered over 7.7 million euros (some $8.4 million) in prize money.

Medvedev’s win at the 2023 ATP Masters tournament in Rome marked the athlete’s first win playing on clay courts. The Russian tennis player has not seen a lot of success on clay in the past, but he firmly continued his strong play this year to win his fifth ATP title this season, following hard-court triumphs in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami.

In 2022, Medvedev was the number one ranked tennis player in the world for 16 weeks. He is the 2021 US Open Champion in addition to now being the winner of 20 ATP tournaments. Also, in 2021 he won the Davis Cup playing for the Russian national team and won the ATP Cup.

Another Russian tennis star, Andrey Rublev, fell one spot in the weekly ATP Rankings, now ranking in seventh place but still in the ATP’s top 10.

The top 10 of the ATP Ranking List are as follows: No. 1: Carlos Alcaraz (Spain); No. 2: Daniil Medvedev (Russian athlete playing as a neutral at ATP tournaments), No. 3: Novak Djokovic (Serbia); No. 4: Casper Ruud (Norway); No. 5: Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece); No. 6: Holger Rune (Denmark); No. 7: Andrey Rublev (Russian athlete playing as a neutral at ATP tournaments); No. 8: Jannik Sinner (Italy); No. 9: Taylor Fritz (United States); and No. 10: Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada).

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

In line with international tennis regulations, Russian tennis players are participating in the tournament under a neutral status.

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.