Top 10s: Ranking the best men’s and women’s American players heading into 2024

Novak Djokovic is the most decorated men’s tennis player in history when it comes to Grand Slams, but he will be chasing a career first in Paris. The mission of the site is to allow tennis journalists and fans freedom and creativity in their writing, personal commentary, and out-of-the-box analysis. Protected rankings cannot be used for seeding purposes or Lucky Loser consideration, nor can they be used for a top eight player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. Their mental capacity to do that and to be able to stay focused is unreal. That’s something I’d like to take from them, as well as being able to perform under all the pressure and circumstances they face on any given day. He created history at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Australian in 53 years to qualify for an Olympic men’s 800-metre final.

ATP 500 Points Breakdown

I had the chance to try and return one of Novak’s serves and that was impossible. While the PTPA has yet to be formally recognised by the tours or the slams, it is increasingly being included in the conversations around the future of the game. And Nassar believes that change is possible, despite the chaotic and internecine struggles that usually pass for tennis politics. Unusually for the incestuous world of tennis, the 44-year-old Nassar has worked at a high level in other sports, including the NFL.

Rafael Nadal

The average age of male players in the top 100 is just under 27 years old with Luca Van Assche, Arthur Fils, and Alex Michelsen (19) the youngest players, and Stan Wawrinka (38), the oldest player in the top 100. I’m a massive fan and I’ve been quite lucky to come to the Australian Open every single year. I think Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia and once you combine that with the weather, it’s unreal.

‘No way anyone has ever played better’: Great claims Alcaraz, Sinner better than ‘Big Three’ at their best

The official rankings are updated every Monday, except during the middle of Grand Slam tournaments and Miami + Indian Wells. With 2024 NFL training camps on the horizon, the league’s true insiders made their voices heard. ESPN surveyed league executives, coaches and scouts to help us rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions, from quarterback to cornerback and all positions in between. This was the fifth edition of these rankings, and as usual, several players moved up or fell off last year’s lists. After a bright 2022, Nakashima suffered a lost year of sorts.

From Carlos Alcaraz to Coco Gauff, here is a look at the top tennis stars headed to the Olympics.

The below list of the top 100 male tennis players in the 2024 ATP Rankings List is updated every Monday as soon as the updated ranking goes live on the ATP Tour website. With the new year right around the corner, 2024 is looking to bring even more drama-filled action to the courts with potential retirement plans for some of the all-time greats. In addition, you’ll catch past winners returning to the game after some time away and the hunt for first grand slam titles, courtesy of hungry, up-and-coming athletes. With all that said, we bet you’re asking yourself who you should be watching out for in 2024.

Here’s who’s competing in tennis at the 2024 Olympics

The PTPA may have been founded in 2019 by Djokovic, working in tandem with Canadian pro Vasek Pospisil, but the appointment of Nassar as chief executive in 2022 represented a step up in ambition. The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) has hired “multiple global law firms” to carry out what its chief executive calls “a full, top-to-bottom physical of the entire structure of tennis”. On the women’s side, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff both remained steady threats, but for much of the year, they, too, seemed to be running in place a bit.

Who holds the record for most year end number 1s in men’s tennis?

We talk a lot about ceilings in a piece like this, and for a while it felt as if Gauff had found hers. She spent most of a year ranked either seventh or eighth in the world, and from August 2021 through May 2023, she went just 3-15 against top-10 opponents. She was nearly upset-proof, but she was struggling to break through to a top-five level. Taylor Fritz basically ended the year where he started from a rankings standpoint and couldn’t turn a top-10 ranking into sustained threats in Grand Slams. Frances Tiafoe dipped his toe into the ATP top 10 but suffered a major funk at the end of the year.

Top 10s: Ranking the best men’s and women’s players heading into 2024

The 22-year-old from San Candido, Italy started the year ranked 15th in the world before jumping to fourth as of the end of October. Sinner defeated world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals at the 2023 Miami Open, and has attributed https://mercurybet.org/ his recent success to his improved mental, physical conditioning, and change in coaching staff. Draws for the five tennis events at the 2024 Olympics were announced on Thursday, July 25, the day before the Opening Ceremony.

Novak Djokovic’s players’ association readies legal fight to reshape tennis calendar

The PTPA has mostly stayed out of the headlines for the past five years, concentrating on building its infrastructure, offering player services and benefits, and raising revenue via trading cards and computer games. The players’ association founded by Novak Djokovic is weighing up a programme of legal challenges that could reshape the world game. Both players and their teams boarded the same private plane from Beijing to Shanghai, to prepare for the Masters 1000 event.

How many tennis events are there at the 2024 Olympics?

He did not compete at the 2012 or 2020 Olympics due to injury. The world’s top tennis players are getting ready to run it back at Roland-Garros. You can see the full ATP Rankings below; you can also search for your favourite player to see their current ranking. Rankings work on a rolling 52-week period and take into account a player’s best results in 19 tournaments for the ATP and 16 for the WTA. Below are links to the latest ATP and WTA rankings for singles and doubles.

At this point, she’s taken home two WTA titles and currently ranking 18th in the world. The 24-time Grand Slam champion only has one Olympic medal, claiming bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. Among men’s players with at least 20 Grand Slam titles, he is the only one to never stand atop the Olympic podium with gold around his neck.

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Sabalenka made it to at least the semi-finals in all four of the Grand Slam appearances in 2023, and is a name you’ll be sure to see at the top of leaderboards time and time again. Below is a breakdown of the points awarded to players at ATP 250, 500, 1000, and grand slam tournaments in 2024. When health, form and motivation all collide, Stephens remains a tough out. She played nine matches against top-20 opponents in 2023 and either beat them or took them to three sets five times. But she also lost 10 matches to players outside of the top 50. The 2017 US Open champion remains a threat in any match, but she still struggles to string good performances together.

Grand Slam Points Breakdown

He might have the best return game of any American, but at 6-foot-1 his service game isn’t nearly as big. That might firmly establish that he’s got a lower overall ceiling, but he’s got a higher floor, too. The self-proclaimed «worst athlete in the family» appeared to be on his own mega-breakthrough in 2023 after dominating Daniil Medvedev on his way to the Australian Open quarterfinals. But a wrist injury there knocked him out for most of four months, and he won only one Slam match the rest of the year. He won 10 of 12 at one point in the fall, however, and his game is the most well rounded of any of the other «young, big-serving American» prototypes.

Her determination and precision on the court, as well as the experience she has gained with her doubles partner Coco Gauff, have paid off. The 29-year-old American is now the fifth-ranked player in the world, holding four WTA singles titles and seven doubles titles. Coco Gauff captured the attention of the tennis world with her stunning three-set victory over world number one Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 US Open. Gauff’s finals performance drew more viewers than the men’s championship match and at just 19, the third-ranked American is a newfound leader in the sport. 2023 has been an amazing year in tennis, complete with record-setting performances on both the men’s and women’s sides. From Novak Djokovic putting his 24th grand slam title in the record books to Coco Gauff’s US Open finals three-set stunner, fans were treated to moments that will go down in history.

The protected ranking gives a player a spot in the rankings determined by the player’s average ATP Rankings position during the first three months of his injury. Ben Shelton is a rising star who brings power, agility, and fearlessness to the game. Shelton’s elite serve speeds—which have hit as high as 149 mph during tournament play—draw gasps from the audience and racket claps from opponents.

With a game style that has been described as a mix of Nadal and Federer, Holger Rune is part of the younger cohort leading the charge of the next generation of elite players. Rune, who turned pro in 2020, has four career titles, including the 2022 ATP Masters in Paris and the 2023 BMW Open in Munich, and is currently ranked sixth in the world. Jessica Pegula spent much of her early career battling on the lower ITF circuit, taking 11 years after turning pro to break into the top 100.

Get to know Team USA Olympians ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics

• He created history at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Australian in 53 years to qualify for an Olympic men’s 800-metre final.
• Known as “Queen Wen” to her fans, Qinwen Zheng has been befuddling opponents with her signature high-spinning forehand and powerful serve.
• «I think for the people who don’t watch tennis, probably thanks to these kind of matches, [they] start to watch tennis or even practice it. I think it is pretty good.»
• With all that said, we bet you’re asking yourself who you should be watching out for in 2024.
• She lost four of five to end the year, but she’s nearly back in the top 30 and, at 25, still has time to carve out another peak.
• This was the fifth edition of these rankings, and as usual, several players moved up or fell off last year’s lists.
• Suppose a player is physically injured and does not compete in any tennis event for twelve months or longer.
• Meanwhile, Sinner delights fans with his athletic prowess, striking winners from every corner of the court.

This year, the players have found themselves busier than ever, thanks to the inclusion of the Olympic tennis event on the schedule and the fact that matches are running longer and longer. Meanwhile the ATP have extended Masters 1000 tournaments to two weeks and the WTA have bumped up the number of mandatory events from four to 10. In her past four Slams, Brady has won 15 matches and reached two semifinals and one final. Unfortunately, those four events have come in a more than three-year span.

• Meanwhile, Sinner delights fans with his athletic prowess, striking winners from every corner of the court.
• The ATP Rankings system is the method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals to see who should qualify and who should be seeded in the different singles and doubles ATP Tournaments held all across the world.
• Do players such as Pegula, Fritz and Tiafoe still have another level to add to their respective games?
• For example, a player can be first in the Live Race but lower in the ATP Rankings because he has enjoyed more success in the current season.
• I think I was more nervous to have a run with him than I would be in an Olympic final.
• You can follow it on television, but when you’re sitting courtside and trying to follow the ball it’s impossible.
• This excludes wild cards and entries as a Direct Acceptance, should the true ranking allow this.
• Her serve needs work, but Pegula might be the only American with a better return game.

«When Jannik and I face each other, playing against each other, I think it’s a really good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies. «I hope Roger, Novak, and Rafa are not listening, but in terms of level, when Sinner and Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way anyone has ever played better tennis. The ATP Rankings system is the method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals to see who should qualify and who should be seeded in the different singles and doubles ATP Tournaments held all across the world. She reached the third round in her first Olympics and is coming off a second-round defeat to eventual champion Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon. The 21-year-old from Spain has already won four Grand Slams and is coming off back-to-back major titles with triumphs at the French Open and Wimbledon.

The first official rankings were published by the ATP on the 23rd of August 1973 with Ilie Nastase being the first tennis player to be ranked number 1 in the world. As the season draws to a close, the live rankings become more important as they reflect where a player will finish the year in the ATP Rankings. The ATP rankings determine which tournaments a player can enter and their seeding. For example, Carlos Alcaraz is known as the World No. 1 because he sits in first place in the Rankings. Casper Ruud is known as a Top 10 player because he is No. 4 in the Rankings. The site primarily focuses on the men’s game but also covers the financials of the sports, equipment reviews, strings, and every tournament at Grand Slam, 1000, and 500 level.

• But he’s also only 26, and if his now-lengthy injury history was more bad luck than a sign of things to come, he’s got plenty of time to again establish himself as a top-30 or so presence.
• Djokovic and Nadal could play each other in the second round of the men’s singles event if they each win their first-round match.
• They are calculated by taking a player’s best 19 tournament results to determine their ranking over the preceding 52 weeks.
• Rune, who turned pro in 2020, has four career titles, including the 2022 ATP Masters in Paris and the 2023 BMW Open in Munich, and is currently ranked sixth in the world.
• However, this does not mean that players who play the most tournaments will be ranked the highest as there is a max of 19 tournaments that goes into the calculation of a player’s ranking.
• The protected ranking gives a player a spot in the rankings determined by the player’s average ATP Rankings position during the first three months of his injury.

If you match your performance from 52 weeks ago, you have a net gain/loss of zero points. You’ll gain points if you better your performance, but if you perform worse, you’ll lose points. I met Nick Kyrgios during the summer and I’m a massive fan of his. He’s doing amazing things off the court and we’ve got some of the same interests, like basketball, so hopefully I’ll get the chance to meet him a few more times. I think I was more nervous to have a run with him than I would be in an Olympic final. It was cool getting to walk onto Rod Laver Arena and be part of a different sport.

But he also lost four straight matches at one point during the American summer swing and dropped back out of the top 50. The 6-footer has a slightly less consistent version of Paul’s game, but he can mix it up with just about anyone outside the top 10. The 6-foot-11 serve-bot missed most of a year with a hip injury, then hurt his wrist during rehab. After one match in a challenger event in November, he withdrew with a hand injury. He has earned seven total rankings points since August 2022. But he’s also only 26, and if his now-lengthy injury history was more bad luck than a sign of things to come, he’s got plenty of time to again establish himself as a top-30 or so presence.

• Rankings work on a rolling 52-week period and take into account a player’s best results in 19 tournaments for the ATP and 16 for the WTA.
• He checked that one off at the Australian Open, his second Slam.
• I think Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia and once you combine that with the weather, it’s unreal.
• I had the chance to try and return one of Novak’s serves and that was impossible.
• Talks of retirement for the 36-year-old Serbian have quieted down as Djokovic boasts peak form while the next gen of players seek to take his throne.
• Sebastian Korda seemed primed for a breakthrough but missed months with an injury.
• On the men’s side, for instance, Tommy Paul reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, and Christopher Eubanks enjoyed a late-career breakthrough at Wimbledon.

The ATP and WTA both use non-competition clauses which limit players’ ability to compete in these independent events away from the tour. But such restrictions could potentially be classed as restraint of trade if a legal challenge were to be launched. The PTPA’s central point is that the average tennis player remains overworked and underpaid by the standards of global sport. Although the ATP and WTA Tours have staved off the spectre of a LIV-style breakaway, mainly by granting official events to Saudi Arabia, it now seems as though revolution could come from within. Paul made the most of a favorable Australian Open draw to charge to the semis, then pulled off his best win of the season — a three-setter over Carlos Alcaraz — to reach the semifinals in Toronto.

The left-handed 21-year-old made waves during the 2023 US Open where he upset the 10th and 14th-seeded players, ultimately losing to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Current world number one ranked player, Sabalenka has been taking women’s tennis by storm with her powerful and aggressive style of play. The 25-year-old Belarusian is a hard worker with an even harder groundstroke.

The ATP Rankings are not to be confused with the ATP Live Rankings. For example, a player can be first in the Live Race but lower in the ATP Rankings because he has enjoyed more success in the current season. The Entry Protection status gives players entry into the main draw or qualifying competition or for special exempt consideration. When 52 weeks have passed since the points were acquired, they are dropped, and new points are added.

We’re serving up the ultimate ranking of the best tennis players of 2024, a list created for fans, by fans. Our criteria for ranking these athletes takes into account this year’s performance on the court, current ATP rankings, consistency, sportsmanship, and popularity among fans globally. This list is intended to celebrate the skill, persistence, and flair of these athletes while also appreciating the transformative effect they have had on the game we love.

Sebastian Korda seemed primed for a breakthrough but missed months with an injury. Jenson Brooksby was suspended for 18 months for missed drug tests. On the men’s side, for instance, Tommy Paul reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, and Christopher Eubanks enjoyed a late-career breakthrough at Wimbledon.

Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at ATP 250 tournaments receive 250 points with the runner-up receiving 150 points. Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at ATP 500 tournaments receive 500 points with the runner-up receiving 330 points. Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at mandatory Masters 1000 tournaments receive 1,000 points with the runner-up receiving 650 points. However, this does not mean that players who play the most tournaments will be ranked the highest as there is a max of 19 tournaments that goes into the calculation of a player’s ranking. Since then it’s gone on to be one of the largest independently owned website for tennis news and a platform for fans to share their views on the game.

He checked that one off at the Australian Open, his second Slam. The ultra-athletic, 6-foot-4 Shelton might have the most upside in the American player pool. The tour adjusted to him in the spring and summer, and he found another gear in the fall.

Collins was beset by unlucky draws in 2023, finishing seven of her 18 tournaments against Swiatek, Pegula or Rybakina. But she went against everyone else on tour, with two top-10 wins and four quarterfinal appearances. She is managing a number of chronic issues and doesn’t play a ton of events, but at worst she should remain a constant bracket-buster candidate in any tournament. Known as “Queen Wen” to her fans, Qinwen Zheng has been befuddling opponents with her signature high-spinning forehand and powerful serve. The 25-year-old from China relies on her speed to control points from serve, and has shown a lot of promise in her young career.