Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz is guaranteed to become number 1 in the ATP ranking in the next Roland Garros after starting his second round match at the Rome Masters 1000 on Saturday against his compatriot Albert Ramos.

The 20-year-old from Murcia will surpass Serbian Novak Djokovic in the rankings next Monday and will be the top seed at Roland Garros (from May 28 to June 11).

Djokovic arrived in Rome with just a five-point advantage in the rankings over Alcaraz, but as the defending champion, the Serbian, at best, can only maintain his points if he repeats victory in the tournament.

Alcaraz does not defend any points as he did not participate in the Roman tournament last year, so simply by competing in Rome he was already guaranteed to regain the number 1 spot.

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The Spaniard became the youngest number 1 in history thanks to his triumph last September at the US Open, with Djokovic unable to earn points in this year's North American tour as he could not enter the United States because he was not vaccinated against covid-19.

Alcaraz will be number 1 for the 23rd week and arrives in Rome in top form after winning the tournaments in Barcelona and Madrid, both on clay.