
(Photo: Tennis Canada)
–
FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – The week before the US Open, even more for the men than the women, is one with few top players taking part.
But with the 48-player draw at the only ATP Tour event available in Winston-Salem, a lot of opportunities.
And with Challengers everywhere, still, even more because the players ranked 100-250 are trying to qualify at the US Open, leaving space for aspiring players.
No better example of that than Canadian Gabriel Diallo, who took a wild card from Tennis Canada and ran with it all the way to the title in Granby.
There is no change in the top 10, and just one in the top 20.
(For the complete, updated ATP Tour rankings picture, click here).
ON THE UPSWING

Adrian Mannarino (FRA): No. 65 ========> No. 45 (Mannarino gives himself a good boost coming into the US Open by taking the title in Winston-Salem).
Laslo Djere (SRB): No. 89 ========> No. 64 (Djere put a nice dent in his ranking by making the Winston-Salem final. He won four three-setters in his first round rounds – two of them in third-set tiebreaks).

Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI): No. 102 ========> No. 85 (Huesler breaks into the top 100 and a new career high, at age 26, by going from the qualifying to the semis in Winston-Salem. That’s a big week – and he doesn’t get much rest as he takes on Denis Shapovalov in the first round of the US Open on Tuesday).
Damir Dzumhur (BIH): No. 226 ========> No. 197 (The former world No. 23 – July 2018 – gets back into the top 200 with a run into the final of a Challenger in his home country, in Banja Luka).

Juncheng Shang (CHN): No. 246 ========> No. 202 (Shang, 17, was in the 350s just before the deadline for US Open qualifying, even though a title at the Challenger in Lexington, Ky the first week of August brought him inside the top 250. He reached the final in Granby, losing to 20-year-old Canadian Gabriel Diallo).
Dominic Thiem (AUT): No. 231 ========> No. 211 (It feels like this is going to be an important week in the comeback of Dominic Thiem, a former US Open champion. He moves up with a third-round effort in Winston-Salem, helped by a retirement from Grigor Dimitrov in the second round. He drew No. 12 seed Pablo Carreño Busta in the first round in New York, not an easy one).

Gabriel Diallo (CAN): No. 519 ========> No. 335 (The 20-year-old University of Kentucky star and Montreal native cut a big chunk out of his ranking with a Challenger title in Granby last week, as a wild card).

Justin Boulais (CAN): No. 1837 ========> No. 936 (Whatever happens in Justin Boulais’s tennis career – he’s the son of former top-30 Canadian player Patricia Hy and coach Yves Boulais – he will never, never move up 911 SPOTS in the rankings in one week. Boulais won two rounds in qualifying and took vetera ATP Tour player Jordan Thompson to 9-7 in the third-set tiebreak before bowing out in the second round in Granby).
ON THE DOWNSWING
Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN): No. 44 ========> No. 49 (Ruusuvuori made the semis in Winston-Salem a year ago; this year, after an opening-round bye, he lost to eventual champion Mannarino).
Ilya Ivashka (BLR): No. 51 ========> No. 73 (Ivashka won Winston-Salem a year ago, beating Carreño Busta, Struff and Cilic on the way. Last week he lost in the third round to Marc-Andrea Huesler, in a third-set tiebreak).

Mikael Ymer (SWE): No. 74 ========> No. 99 (Ymer reached the Winston-Salem final a year ago, and got a wild card to play it this year, but he lost to Huesler in the second round).
Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG): No. 99 ========> No. 121 (Carabelli lost in the first round of the US Open qualifying last week, and dropped his points from winning a Challenger on clay in Warsaw, Poland the same week a year ago. Those are part of the growing pains involved in jumping from maxing out at the Challenger level, and making the transition to the top level).
Franco Agamenone (ITA): No. 109 ========> No. 125 (The 29-year-old Italian was at a career high earlier this month. And he, too, lost in the first round of qualifying in New York – to a fairly obscure Argentina named Francisco Comesana. He drops his points from winning a Challenger in Prague a year ago).

Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA): No. 222 ========> No. 243 (Herbert hasn’t played since the grass-court Challenger in Ilkley in June. We’re assuming he remains unvaccinated, and therefore wouldn’t have been able to play in the US tournaments even if his ranking had allowed, which it would have for the US Open qualifying).
THE CANADIANS

THE ROAD TO TURIN

THE ROAD TO MILAN


More Stories
Canucks This Week – Week ending Feb. 16, 2025 (Sunday results)
Bianca Andreescu comeback delayed again
ATP Rankings Report – As of Feb. 3, 2025