Medvedev stays No.1 but no longer flies a flag

While the ATP rankings barely moved yesterday following a weekend when the Davis Cup replaced tournaments, there was one visible change, as the Russian flag vanished from the list.Daniil Medvedev stayed on top, but the country column next to his name contained a white rectangle, after the ATP responded to the invasion of Ukraine, by deciding last week to allow Russian and Belarusian players to continue to compete, but not under their national flags.Andrey Rublev, who dropped a place to seventh, Aslan Karatsev in 22 and Karen Khachanov, who fell one spot to 26, also had their nationality hidden by the ATP.Belarusian Ilya Ivashka, who rose two spots to 41, was also flagless. There are no Ukrainians in the men’s top 100.One player who jumped without playing was Dominic Thiem the former number three, out with a wrist injury since June, rose one spot to 50 just as he postponed his return to the ATP tour circuit.Former US Open champion Thiem further delayed his return to action, saying he was pulling out of ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami to focus on the claycourt season.Thiem, who has an excellent record on clay, has not played since suffering the injury at the 2021 Mallorca Open and the 28-year-old, who has slipped to 50th in the world rankings, was unable to defend his US Open crown last year.The Austrian had withdrawn from tournaments in Argentina, Brazil and Chile this year but had said he was hopeful of a return at Indian Wells, generally considered the most prestigious tournament outside the four grand slam events and where Thiem won the title in 2019.“I had really good practice weeks. The wrist is perfectly fine, the hand is getting better and better but still I decided to pull out of Indian Wells and Miami and to start on the clay court,” Thiem said in a video posted on Instagram. “It’s still the surface where I feel most comfortable so I think it’s the perfect time to start there.”The claycourt season starts in April.Meanwhile, Dayana Yastremska’s unexpected run to the Lyon Open final ended in defeat on Sunday but the Ukrainian said she would donate her prize money towards aid efforts following Russia’s invasion of her country 10 days ago.Yastremska, who has won three WTA titles, fled Ukraine with her younger sister with help from their parents just days after the invasion began on Feb. 24. She said she spent two nights in an underground parking lot before they fled.The 21-year-old took the first set against Zhang Shuai before losing 3-6 6-3 6-4 to the eighth seed, who came back from 4-2 down in the decider to clinch the title. “The prize money I earn here I’m going to give to the Ukrainian Foundation to support Ukraine,” Yastremska, who draped her country’s flag around her shoulders, said at the trophy presentation. “If Ukrainian people are watching me, I want to say ‘you guys are so strong, you have an amazing spirit, and I tried to fight for Ukraine’.“I want to say thanks to every single person for standing by Ukraine.”Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation”.There was, however, some good news for Yastremska with the organisers of the March 9-20 WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells announcing that she was handed a wildcard into the main draw. Italian Camila Giorgi’s withdrawal paved the way for four-time major winner Naomi Osaka to move into the main draw at Indian Wells as a direct entry and freeing up a wildcard which was handed to Yastremska.“My beloved Ukraine, I really wanted to win this one for you,” Yastremska, a former world number 21 who is currently ranked 103rd, said on Twitter following her defeat in Lyon.“I gave my absolute best throughout this week because that’s what Ukrainians do!”  ATP RANKINGS1. D Medvedev (RUS) 8615 pts2. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 84653. Alexander Zverev (GER) 75154. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 65155. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 63256. M Berrettini (ITA) 4928 (+1)7. Andrey Rublev (RUS) 4590 (-1)8. Casper Ruud (NOR) 39159. F Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 388310. Jannik Sinner (ITA) 3495 (+1)11. H Hurkacz (POL) 3468 (-1)12. Cameron Norrie (GBR) 330513. D Shapovalov (CAN) 302014. D Schwartzman (ARG) 266015. Roberto Bautista (ESP) 248016. Pablo Carreno (ESP) 222017. Reilly Opelka (USA) 215618. Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 212119. Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) 205620. Taylor Fritz (USA) 2010Selected50. Dominic Thiem (AUT) (+1)88. Andy Murray (GBR) (-4)