Oldest tennis player ranked world No.1 in singles (ATP Tour)

Novak Djokovic (Serbia, b. 22 May 1987) was 37 years 12 days old at the start of his 428th and most recent week as the No.1-ranked tennis player in singles on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour – the week commencing 3 June 2024. It was on that day that he won his fourth-round match at the French Open, only to withdraw from the tournament 24 hours later with a knee injury, thus allowing Roland Garros semi-finalist Jannik Sinner and winner Carlos Alcaraz to pick up enough points to relegate him to No.3. As of 28 October 2024, Djokovic was fourth in the ATP rankings with 6,210 points, behind Jannik Sinner (11,420), Carlos Alcaraz (7,120) and Alexander Zverev (6,805).

Djokovic first reached the top of the ATP rankings on 4 July 2011. His most recent week at No.1 (w/c 3 June 2024) arrived 12 years 335 days later.

His longest consecutive run at the top was 122 weeks (w/c 7 July 2014 to w/c 31 October 2016), and he finished a record eight seasons as the ATP’s No.1-ranked player (2011–12, 2014–15, 2018, 2020–21 and 2023).

Djokovic added a second “oldest” record to his collection in 2024 when he defeated Carlos Alcaraz 7–6, 7–6 to win an Olympic gold medal in singles at the age of 37 years 74 days on 4 August. This enabled Djokovic to complete a career “Golden Slam” and a clean sweep of the 15 “Big Titles” – Grand Slams (4), ATP Finals, Olympic Games and active Masters 1000 events (9).

The previous record holder in singles, Roger Federer (b. 8 August 1981), spent the last of his 310 weeks at No.1 on 18 June 2018 (w/c), when he was 36 years 314 days old. Doubles player Rohan Bopanna (India, b. 4 March 1980) holds the ATP’s absolute oldest record, having spent the most recent of his eight weeks at No.1 on 8 April 2024, aged 44 years 35 days.