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There were only two 250-level tournaments on the ATP Tour last week. Still, there is plenty of movement from those, along with the multiple Challengers.

The idle Novak Djokovic, who won’t be playing Indian Wells, drops 500 points from his title in Tokyo in 2019 and finds himself just over 1,000 points ahead of Daniil Medvedev at No. 2.

That is … awfully close – relatively speaking.

Medvedev has NO points to defend at Indian Wells. If he manages to win the thing, he would be less than 1,000 points behind Djokovic. But then he has 1,000 to defend in Paris. And another 1,500 at the ATP Tour Finals. So it’s a bit of a fool’s paradise, as he gets to the desert paradise.

Djokovic drops just 23 points from Indian Wells. But he, too, has 1,000 points to defend from the 2019 edition of Paris-Bercy. And 400 at the Tour Finals.

WTA Rankings Report – As of Oct. 4, 2021

Dominic Thiem, who is still on the sidelines, drops 500 points as well. But he is safely ensconced between Matteo Berrettini at No. 7, and Roger Federer – still at No. 9. For now.

(Yup, we know).

Federer has about 1,000 points dropping this month, and another 400 from the 2019 Tour finals. Some 300 of those are the 50% from the 2019 Indian Wells final.

Casper Ruud wins his fifth title of the season in San Diego – his first on hard courts. But the net 175 point he gains aren’t enough to make a move from his current career-high No. 10. He is, however, just 150 points behind Federer.

For the complete, updated ATP Tour rankings, click here.

ON THE UPSWING

Gael Monfils (FRA): No. 20 ========> No. 18 (Baby steps as Sofia finalist Monfils gets his mojo back and moves up two spots).

Lorenzo Sonego (ITA): No. 23 ========> No. 21 (A lot of attention on Italian youngsters Sinner and Musetti. But this 26-year-old moves to a career high after his quarter-final effort in San Diego).

Cagliari — *Younger Italians are getting more press. But the 26-year-old Sonego is at another career high (Photo: Mizuno Tennis)*

Cameron Norrie (GBR): No. 28 ========> No. 26 (The Brit offered up only token resistance in the San Diego final against Ruud. But he’s at another career high just by getting there. With the win, he would have been achingly close to the top 20 – that’s how jammed it is in that section of the rankings).

Filip Krajinovic (SRB): No. 37 ========> No. 34 (A semifinalist in Sofia, he can start thinking about a seed in Melbourne).

Sebastian Korda (USA): No. 42 ========> No. 40 (It’s another career high for Korda, even though he lost in the second round in San Diego. Beyond the food poisoning that cut short his US Open quest, the progress has been steady – if slower than most of the hype machine had in mind for him).

Marcos Giron (USA): No. 67 ========> No. 56 (At 28, with some serious injuries behind him, the American reaches a career high after making the Sofia semifinals).

*Marcos Giron at Indian Wells. He reaches another career high in the ATP Tour rankings this week. (Stephanie Myles/OpenCourt.ca)*

Arthur Rinderknech (FRA): No. 74 ========> No. 70 (Top 70 and a career high for the 26-year-old, who has has such an impressive rise this season at a relatively late stage of his career).

Jenson Brooksby (USA): No. 79 ========> No. 76 (The American hasn’t played since the US Open, but he still moves to another career high).

Jiri Vesely (CZE): No. 86 ========> No. 80 (The veteran Czech lefty made the Orléans Challenger semi and rises six spots).

Henri Laaksonen (SUI): No. 118 ========> No. 98 (A win at the Orléans Challenger gets the 29-year-old from Switzerland back into the top 100. It’s always a mystery why he’s not ranked higher, because he’s just so solid).

ON THE DOWNSWING

John Isner (USA): No. 21 ========> No. 23

Karen Khachanov (RUS): No. 27 ========> No. 29

Adrian Mannarino (FRA): No. 54 ========> No. 58 (The French lefty lost in the first round in Sofia).

*Pospisil made the Sofia final a year ago, but lost a tough one in the first round this year. (TennisTV)*

Vasek Pospisil (CAN): No. 68 ========> No. 85 (Pospisil made the final in the last edition of Sofia. This time, he loses in the first round despite seeming to have the match in hand. He has some points to defend the remainder of this season. So let’s see how he goes at Indian Wells).

Sam Querrey (USA): No. 77 ========> No. 86

John Millman (AUS): No. 55 ========> No. 90 (Millman made the quarters in Sofia. But that only mitigated some of the points he dropped (307 net points). For a guy who’s been on the road all year, grinding, it’s a bit of a tough blow).

Gilles Simon (FRA): No. 99 ========> No. 112 (Simon is out of the top 100 after losing first round in Orléans. He’s heading to the finish line, and it’s tough to picture him playing Slam qualifying. But you never know. It’s tough to finally shut that door).

*Murray is running up against a points-defence challenge the next few weeks.*

Andy Murray (GBR): No. 109 ========> No. 121 (Murray’s second-round loss in San Diego didn’t offset his 90 points from Beijing in 2019, so he drops. When Indian Wells is over, he’ll also drop 250 points from his title in Antwerp a year ago, as well as 45 more from 2019 Shanghai).

Taro Daniel (JPN): No. 111 ========> No. 123 (A first-round loss in the Lisbon Challenger drops Daniel off the AO bubble, for now).

Lucas Pouille (FRA): No. 137 ========> No. 150 (Pouille made the second round in Orléans, but his comeback is sort of treading water).