PARIS: Serb Novak Djokovic finishes as world number one for the second straight year, as he sits top of the final 2012 rankings released by the ATP yesterday.
Djokovic has 12,920 points with Swiss Roger Federer second on 10,265, Andy Murray in third place and Rafael Nadal in fourth despite being on the injury sidelines since July.
Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, 34, who stunned Spaniard Nicolas Almagro to secure a first Davis Cup victory for the Czech Republic at the weekend, moves up six places to 31st as a result.
Meanwhile, Spain captain Alex Corretja has defended his decision to pick Nicolas Almagro for the Davis Cup final after the holders were beaten 3-2 by Czech Republic when Almagro lost the decisive singles rubber to Stepanek on Sunday.
Corretja, in his first year in charge, had to field questions about why he didn’t select Feliciano Lopez, whose big-serving style is seen as better suited to the zippy indoor court in Prague’s O2 arena than that of clay specialist Almagro.
Lopez himself was quoted as saying the day before the tie that he was surprised not to be picked along with David Ferrer but Corretja said he had no doubt he had made the right choice and would choose Almagro over Lopez again.
Almagro, the world number 11, lost in five sets to Czech number one Tomas Berdych on Friday, while fifth-ranked Ferrer won both his singles and Berdych and Stepanek beat Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers in Saturday’s doubles. “I don’t think I made a mistake and I don’t think we lost the tie because Nico Almagro played,” Corretja, unable to call on the injured Rafa Nadal, told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser by telephone late on Sunday.
“Having seen the way Nico Almagro played on Friday I still believe that he was the right person to play the final rubber,” Corretja added.
“Who knows if a different player would have been any better? Nobody.
“I am a fan of Feliciano Lopez in the sense that he has given a huge amount to the Davis Cup team.
“He’s an excellent team mate and an excellent friend and an excellent Davis Cup player and an excellent player on those courts but I have a huge number of reasons why I think Almagro had to play.”
Almagro turned in an error-strewn performance against Stepanek and although he briefly mounted a comeback to win the third set the Czech 33-year-old, ranked 31, had too much guile and experience for the younger Spaniard.AFP
