ATP live rankings: How Novak Djokovic & Carlos Alcaraz's US Open exits have affected Jannik Sinner & Alexander Zverev's positions

The 2024 US Open has seen several upsets already on the men's and women's tournaments in its six days so far. However, the biggest upsets have arguably come on the men's side in the form of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz lost his second-round match against Botic van de Zandschulp on Day 4 in New York. This will cause a significant fall in the Spaniard's rankings points. Alcaraz reached the semi-final in New York last year and earned 720 points, which the third seed was defending this time. The 2022 champion's second-round exit entails a 670-point drop in his overall tally which would stand at 6690.

Djokovic entered the 2024 US Open as the defending champion, having won in Flushing Meadows last year. Therefore the Serb was defending 2000 points this time, but his third-round exit at the hands of Alexei Popyrin would mean a drop of 1900, which would take the second seed's point tally to, 5560.

Before the US Open, Djokovic and Alcaraz were in the 2nd and 3rd spot on the ATP rankings, but their ill-timed early-round exits have caused them to slip to 3rd (Alcaraz), and 4th (Djokovic) positions respectively.

The duo's early round exits augers well for Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev. The World No. 1 currently sits on 9230 points and is next scheduled to play Christopher O'Connell in the third round of the US Open. Even if the Italian loses the match, he will remain No. 1 comfortably.

The exits of Djokovic and Alcaraz mean that Alexander Zverev will attain a career-high ranking of 2 on the ATP rankings once the rankings are adjusted after the US Open. The current point tally for the German as per live rankings, is 6775, which would be enough for him to be the new World No. 2 even if he lost in his ongoing match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry in New York.

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This is the first time Alcaraz and Djokovic have been knocked out of a Major this early

Carlos Alcaraz in action (Getty)

Since Alcaraz's Major debut at the 2021 Australian Open, one of him or Novak Djokovic has at least made it to the quarter-final of a Major. The last time the Spaniard lost this early at a Grand Slam was at the 2021 Wimbledon when he lost to Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

The last time Djokovic lost this early in a Major was at the 2017 Australian Open when he lost to Denis Istomin in the second round. 2017 also happens to be the last time that the Serb failed to capture a single Grand Slam in a season.

Djokovic is also in danger of falling out of the Top 8 for the year-ending ATP Finals in Turin. The Serb currently sits in the seventh position on the Race rankings but has players like Alex De Minaur and Talyor Fritz right behind him. If either of them make a deep run in New York, the 24-time Major Champion might fall out of the Top 8.