No matter what happens at the US Open, Novak Djokovic & Ashleigh Barty will continue to be ranked World No. 1

Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty head into the final Grand Slam of the season as the world's top-ranked players. The ATP and WTA tours recently published their rankings for the week starting August 30 and with most top players choosing to skip the tournaments in the final week prior to the tournament, there are almost no changes in the top 10.

Djokovic has begun his 336th week at the top of the world rankings, and his lead is big enough that he cannot be displaced from there no matter what happens at the US Open. The Serb will be aiming to win his 21st Grand Slam singles title and with it the Calendar Grand Slam over the next fortnight.

Djokovic is now only 42 weeks away from breaking the all-time record (including both men and women) for most weeks at No. 1. That record - 377 weeks - is currently held by Steffi Graf.

Novak Djokovic

Despite his disappointing campaign at the Tokyo Olympics, Novak Djokovic is the odds-on favorite for a fourth US Open title. He meets 18-year-old qualifier Holger Rune, a former World No. 1 junior, in the first round on Tuesday.

The Serb is followed in the rankings by Daniil Medvedev (No. 2), Stefanos Tsitsipas (No. 3), Alexander Zverev (No. 4) and Rafael Nadal (No. 5).

There is no change in the top 10, with Dominic Thiem (No. 6), Andrey Rublev (No. 7), Matteo Berrettini (No. 8), Roger Federer (No. 9) and Denis Shapovalov (No. 10) holding on to their positions.

Winston-Salem Open champion Ilya Ivashka has climbed 10 spots to a new career-best No. 53 in the rankings. The runner-up at that tournament, Mikael Ymer, has moved up 18 spots to No. 72 - just five positions below his career peak of No. 67 (March 2020).

Emil Ruusuvuori, a semi-finalist in Wiston-Salem, has climbed 10 positons to No. 66, a new career peak for the Finn.

Ashleigh Barty begins 91st week as World No. 1

Ashleigh Barty at the Tokyo Olympics

Australia's Ashleigh Barty has begun her 56th consecutive week and 91st overall week on the top of the WTA rankings list. Barty has the ninth longest reign at the No. 1 spot in women's tennis history.

With only 240 points to defend from her 2019 fourth-round finish at the US Open (she didn't compete in the 2020 edition) and a 3,000+ point lead over her closest rival, Barty cannot lose her top spot even if she loses in the first round in New York. In fact, such is her lead that she looks all set to overtake Lindsay Davenport (98 weeks) and move into the eighth spot in the weeks at No. 1 tally.

Barty opens her US Open campaign against former World No. 2 Vera Zvonareva on Tuesday. The Australian is followed in the rankings by Aryna Sabalenka (No. 2), defending US Open champion Naomi Osaka (No. 3) and Karolina Pliskova (No. 4).

Elina Svitolna, who picked up her first title of the season in Chicago on Sunday, has moved up one spot to return to the top 5. She is followed by Sofia Kenin (No. 6), Bianca Andreescu (No. 7), Iga Swiatek (No. 8), Barbora Krejcikova (No. 9) and Garbine Muguruza (No. 10).

Anett Knotaveit, who won the WTA Cleveland event on Saturday, has climbed two spots to No. 28.

Chicago runner-up Alize Cornet, a former world No. 11, has moved up 12 spots to No. 56 while Cleveland finalist Irina-Camelia Begu has jumped 11 spots to No. 63.