–

Carlos Alcaraz, long awaited, officially arrived at the top of the game Sunday.

The 18-year-old, newly buff in 2022, won the Rio Open 500 event, through a week that was nothing but trials because of the heavy rain.

Nothing appeared to bother him – not even finishing near 2 a.m. and coming back the next day to play a big semifinal.

He jumps into the top 20 with a bullet, smiling big all the way.

With no less than four ATP Tour events last week, there were plenty of moves.

As well, the points from last year’s delayed Australian Open fall off this week. Which means that Daniil Medvedev gains 800 points on Novak Djokovic, who watches 2,000 points fall while Medvedev, the finalist, drops 1,200.

Djokovic has another 500 points dropping this week from his 2020 win in Dubai. Medvedev isn’t defending anything, so he could potentially make more headway if he has a big result in Acapulco.

For the complete, updated ATP rankings, click here.

ON THE UPSWING

Cameron Norrie (GBR): No. 13 =======> No. 12 (He doesn’t make a lot of noise. But Norrie’s title in Delray Beach, as the No. 1 seed, moves him up to his career high again).

Diego Schwartzman (ARG): No. 14 =======> No. 13 (You have to feel for the guy, losing two finals in a row to youngsters at home in Buenos Aires, and in Rio. But he keeps smiling, and keeps going deep).

Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP): No. 16 =======> No. 15 (Mr. February-March does it again, taking the title in Doha).

Reilly Opelka (USA): No. 20 =======> No. 18 (After the title in Dallas, Opelka reaches the Delray Beach final).

Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO): No. 22 =======> No. 19 (The Georgian is back in the top 20 after making the Doha final. First up in Dubai – unless he decides to skip it – is Félix Auger-Aliassime).

Carlos Alcaraz (ESP): No. 29 =======> No. 20 (Into the top 20 for the first time is the 18-year-old, who was impressive in winning the Rio 500. Quite understandably, he withdrew from Acapulco this week. Travel, surface change – smart move).

Tommy Paul (USA): No. 41 =======> No. 39 (The 24-year-old American is into the top 40 for the first time, after making the Delray semifinals).

Sebastian Korda (USA): No. 43 =======> No. 40 (Another American makes his top-40 debut, after making the Delray quarterfinals).

Brandon Nakashima (USA): No. 81 =======> No. 75

Francisco Cerundolo (ARG): No. 100 =======> No. 76 (A great two weeks, culminating in the Rio semis as a special exempt, have the older Cerundolo brother at a career high).

John Millman (AUS): No. 91 =======> No. 80 (Millman impressed in reaching the Delray Beach semis against some very tough servers).

Aleksandar Vukic (AUS): No. 135 =======> No. 118 (The 25-year-old Aussie has reached another career high after winning the Bengaluru Challenger. He’s slowly but steadily rising in the ranks. Crazy to think that in the fall of 2020, he defeated Alcaraz in the qualifying for Roland Garros. But he did).

Stefan Kozlov (USA): No. 151 =======> No. 130 (At 24, the former highly-ranked junior is finally making some moves. He moves up more than 20 to a career high after qualifying in Delray Beach, and making it to the quarterfinals).

Lucas Pouille (FRA): No. 154 =======> No. 140 (The former No. 10 had an encouraging week in Marseille, making the quarterfinals. But he’s still a long way from where he was).

Roman Safiullin (RUS): No. 163 =======> No. 150 (The 24-year-old went from the qualies to the semis in Marseille, but “only” moves up 13 spots because points from a second-round effort at AO 2021 and a Challenger in Bergamo drop off).

Fernando Verdasco (ESP): No. 172 =======> No. 153 (As with pal Feliciano Lopez, the 38-year-old is still giving it a go. Winning a round in Rio helped. As a wild card, he opens against John Isner in Acapulco Monday).

Jack Draper (GBR): No. 201 =======> No. 162 (The 20-year-old, once a junior Wimbledon finalist, leaps into the top 200 after winning the Challenger in Forli, Italy).

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA): No. 243 =======> No. 225 (This is his real ranking, as opposed to his protected one. Winning a round against Simon in Marseille was worth 18 spots).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Denis Shapovalov (CAN): No. 12 =======> No. 14 (A surprising loss in Doha drops him, as the two behind him leapfrog over him).

Aslan Karatsev (RUS): No. 15 =======> No. 22 (Karatsev made the Marseille quarters. But his points from last year’s Australian Open run drop off this week – because of the late dates for the event last year – he takes a hit. This week, he’s defending his big title from last year in Dubai although it will take another month for last year’s points to drop off).

Cristian Garin (CHI): No. 19 =======> No. 27 (It’s been sort of a “COVID-ranking” thing that Garín has spent so much time in the top 20. But he drops points, after losing in the first round of Rio. And his points from winning Rio all the way back in 2020 are now gone).

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL): No. 26 =======> No. 33 (Dimitrov made the quarters in Delray Beach, but drops his points from making the quarterfinals at last year’s February Australian Open).

Dusan Lajovic (SRB): No. 39 =======> No. 46 (First-round loser in Rio, andround-of-16 points from the 2021 AO drop).

Dominic Thiem (AUT): No. 40 =======> No. 52 (Thiem, who was due to return on the South American clay-court swing but iced that, has dropped out of the top 50 for the first time since March 2015. … He drops fourth-round points from the AO, plus quarterfinal points from the 2020 edition of the Rio Open).

Mackenzie McDonald (USA): No. 51 =======> No. 61 (After losing in the first round of Doha, McDonald drops his 2021 AO points Monday. And he has another 100 to defend next week, from winning a big Challenger in Kazakhstan).

Gianluca Mager (ITA): No. 67 =======> No. 102 (The 27-year-old Italian drops out of the top 100. Idle last week, he drops all the points form his run to the finals of the Rio Open back in 2020).

Feliciano Lopez (ESP): No. 102 =======> No. 114 (The 40-year-old Madrid tournament director will want to up that if he still plans to play Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He’s got some good connections, but they might not extend to Slam wild cards. His points from his third-round effort at the 2021 AO drop).

Borna Coric (CRO): No. 88 =======> No. 126 (The 25-year-old has been entering tournaments this year. But he hasn’t played any – in fact, he hasn’t played for almost exactly a year, since 2021 Rotterdam … He’s out of the top 100 for the first time since Dec. 2014. It’s been pretty quiet news-wise about the former No. 12, as well. For those tracking Genie Bouchard’s progress, Coric had shoulder surgery in mid-May 2021. His ranking was No. 24 the last time he played, so his protected ranking will help him when he does return).

Gilles Simon (FRA): No. 132 =======> No. 148 (Tough draw for Simon in Marseille, where he met fellow wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round. He was defending semifinal points, too. He’ll try again at the Pau Challenger this week).

Vasek Pospisil (CAN): No. 146 =======> No. 155 (Pospisil wasn’t able to get to any of the four ATP tournaments last week. So he drops 55 points from his quarterfinal in Marseille in 2020, and his first-round loss at the Australian Open last year … He is in Pau this week, the No. 8 seed at the Challenger there).

Milos Raonic (CAN): No. 127 =======> No. 164 (Whither Milos? We’ve been trying, man. His points from a fourth-round effort at AO 2021 drop).

Stan Wawrinka (SUI): No. 171 =======> No. 189 (The latest word is that Wawrinka is planning to play Roland Garros. So hopefully we’ll see him back even before that).

Attila Balazs (HUN): No. 256 =======> No. 249 (The 33-year-old from Hungary drops, whose career high was No. 76, drops nearly 100 spots after the points from his semifinal in Rio back in 2020 fall off, as well as 10 more from last year’s Australian Open. Balazs hasn’t played since losing in the first round of the Australian Open in 2021).

Bernard Tomic (AUS): No. 260 =======> No. 317 (Tomic, who appears to be training, hasn’t been playing. The points from his second round at last year’s Australian drop off and bump him out of the top 300).

Also: Cheers and well done to Harry Wendelken, a 20-year-old Brit who made the final of an ITF in Shewsbury and the semis of one in Glasgow. And rises from No. 1,038 to No. 762 this week.