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Cincinnati is D-Day for the frozen ATP Tour rankings.

Which means that henceforth, things will hopefully, slowly start looking like they’re supposed to look.

The number of players in the second section, who have dropped points, is exponentially bigger than it has been for most of the last year.

With his impressive run to the Cincinnati title, Alexander Zverev bumps Rafael Nadal down to No. 5 and moves up to No. 4.

WTA Rankings Report – as of Aug. 23, 2021

The German has been at No. 6 and No. 7 for the last two years; the last time he was No. 5 was on the tail end of his stretch at No. 3 – the week of May 5, 2019.

Novak Djokovic – who has arrived in New York – and Daniil Medvedev both dropped 1,000 points with the updated rankings. But Medvedev made back 360 of them by reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati, and so made up a little ground on the No. 1

For the full ATP Tour rankings picture, click here.

ON THE UPSWING

Alexander Zverev (GER): No. 5 ============> No. 4 (On a streak between the Olympics and Cincinnati, Zverev is riding a wave to Flushing).

*Auger-Aliassime is back to his career-high ranking Monday (Screenshot: TennisTV)*

Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN): No. 17 ============> No. 15 (The Canadian moves up two, and ties his career high reached last month).

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL): No. 21 ============> No. 18 (Dimitrov has struggled much of the last year after getting COVID in the summer of 2020. He beat Alexander Bublik and Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets in Cincinnati, before falling to Daniil Medvedev. Before that, he’d lost his first or second match in every tournament he played since Monte Carlo).

John Isner (USA): No. 26 ============> No. 22 (Isner takes back the crown of “No. 1 American” after younger tennis doppelganger Reilly Opelka took it over for a week after Toronto).

Lorenzo Sonego (ITA): No. 27 ============> No. 23 (The 26-year-old Italian, who was impressive in defeat in losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round in Cincinnati, hits a new career high).

Ugo Humbert (FRA): No. 29 ============> No. 26 (Moving up a little likely will put him in a better seed bracket – being top 24 means you play 9-16 in a potential third round, not a top-eight seed. Watch for him in New York).

Raonic — *A lot of people are high in Ugo Humbert. Let’s see what he can do in New York.*

Daniel Altmaier (GER): No. 122 ============> No. 106 (Too late for the US Open main draw, but the 22-year-old reaches a career high after winning a Challenger in Luedenscheid, Germany this past week, over Nicolas Jarry in the final).

Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune (DEN): No. 162 ============> No. 145 (The 18-year-old from Denmark heard it from the peanut gallery after he got some wild cards early in the year. But he has been grinding it out. And has reached another career high after winning a Challenger on clay in Verona, Italy last week. He won a similar tournament in San Marino the previous week. Two months ago, he had just jumped into the top 300. So he’s doing it the hard way. And he’s also suddenly very much in the conversataion for the Next-Gen Finals).

Nicolas Jarry (CHI): No. 262 ============> No. 238 (Making his way back from nowheresville after a drug suspension, the 25-year-old Chilean take another step by winning the Challenger in Germany).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Rafael Nadal (ESP): No. 4 ============> No. 5 (Done for the season, Nadal will drop 2,940 points from his rankings between the US Open, the Tour Finals, Paris and Indian Wells. Without those, he’s STILL top 10. Which is impressive).

Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP): No. 16 ============> No. 21 (Though barely, this is the first time the Spaniard has been out of the top 20 in more than two years. He was a semifinalist in New York/Cincinnati last summer).

David Goffin (BEL): No. 19 ============> No. 30 (The 30-year-old’s new ranking matches his age, after losing in the first round to Guido Pella in Cincinnati. He has played sparingly because of injury since Rome – losing in his opening round three times. Make that four with Cincinnati. He hasn’t been this far down since June 2019).

ATP — *Raonic didn’t play Cincinnati and couldn’t defend his finalist’s points from 2020.*

Milos Raonic (CAN): No. 24 ============> No. 34 (Raonic will still be seeded in New York – if he plays. But he has played just one match since Miami – a third-set tiebreak loss to Brandon Nakashima in Atlanta. He pulled out of D.C., his hometown event in Toronto and Cincinnati, where he reached the final against Novak Djokovic a year ago and lost in three sets).

Marton Fucsovics (HUN): No. 37 ============> No. 42

Jan-Lennard Struff (GER): No. 47 ============> No. 52

Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN): No. 57============> No. 68 (Nishioka went from the qualifying to the quarters in Cincinnati in 2019, beating home-country idol Kei Nishikori on the day. He quaified again this year, but lost to Lloyd Harris in the first round of the main draw. And those 2019 points are now going bye-bye).

Sam Querrey (USA): No. 70 ============> No. 77

Richard Gasquet (FRA): No. 53 ============> No. 82 (The 35-year-old, who has been hovering in the 50s and 60s for much of the last two years, hasn’t been this far down since April 11, 2005. The next week, he hopped into the top 100 and hasn’t left since. Gasquet qualified this year in Cincinnati – the first time he’s ever had to play the qualies there, and he’s been going there since 2005. He made it, but lost in the first round to Andy Murray. Bautista Agut beat him in the second round in Cincy in 2020. But he still had those semifinal points from 2019, now decased).

Nick Kyrgios (AUS): No. 81 ============> No. 85 (Scheduled to play Murray in a sold-out night match in Winston-Salem Sunday night, the Aussie pulled out at the 11th hour before of his left knee. We’ll see what he’s got for the US Open, where he has 90 points to defend from a third-round effort back in 2019).

Tennys Sandgren (USA): No. 85 ============> No. 91

Ricardas Berankis (LTU): No. 88 ============> No. 96

*Andy Murray didn’t end up having to play Nick Kyrgios in the first round of Winston-Salem. He might make a run (Screenshot: TennisTV)*

Andy Murray (GBR): No. 105 ============> No. 114 (Murray’s ranking held just long enough to get him straight into the US Open, although he’d have gotten a wild card anyway. He looks to earn some points and some confidence this week in Winston-Salem).

Lucas Pouille (FRA): No. 106 ============> No. 133 (The 27-year-old, once the *only* hope for French tennis with the ageing out of the Quatre Mousquetaires, has had trouble staying on the court and posting victories. He had lost in the first round in eight of his last nine tournaments coming into Winston-Salem this week, where he did qualify. He’ll play Feliciano Lopez in the first round. Pouille played just one match in 2020, and had elbow surgery in July. Which was more than a year ago. But he’s still working his way back).

Ivo Karlovic (CRO): No. 207 ============> No. 223

Andrea Collarini (ARG): No. 203 ============> No. 240 (The 29-year-old, New-York born Argentine was fairly close to his career high last week. But he took a step back by losing in the first round last week dropping the 80 points he had banked for winning a Challenger in Italy back in 2019).