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FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – As the final Grand Slam of the season begins, Argentina’s Sebastian Baez is on a roll.
Just 22, Baez won his third title of the year – his first on hard courts ever, and his second straight after transitioning from Kitzbuhel on clay three weeks ago.
There are other great stories this week – a week in which, rather unusually, there seem to be far more noteworthy downs than ups.
For the complete, updated ATP Tour rankings (which may be adjusted after some results on Sunday on the lower-level circuits), click here.
ON THE UPSWING
Borna Coric (CRO): No. 29 =======> No. 23 (A semifinalist in Winston-Salem, Coris is up to his highest ranking since … He lost to Baez there – and will meet Baez again in the first round of the US Open).
Jiri Lehecka (CZE): No. 35 =======> No. 29 (A top-30 debut for the 21-year-old from the Czech Republic, under the mentorship of countryman Tomas Berdych. He reaches the Winston-Salem final with the help, of course, of a walkover from Sebastian Korda in the semifinals. A year ago, Lehecka lost in the first round of the US Open main draw to Cristian Garin. He’ll be looking for more in 2023 as he meets Aslan Karatsev in the first round).
Sebastian Baez (ARG): No. 42 =======> No. 32 (Baez wins his third ATP Tour event of the season and would have been seeded if today’s rankings were used. Instead, he faces No. 27 seed Coric – whom he defeated in the Winston-Salem semifinals – in the first round).
Max Purcell (AUS): No. 47 =======> No. 43 (The Aussie having a great North American summer and stands at career high of No. 43 after a quarterfinal in Winston-Salem. Purcell began the season ranked No. 220, but had a couple of hugely successful runs in Challengers – first in India to start the season, in Europe during the winter, and then in Asia in the spring. But jumping up the level to the ATP and majors was a different deal; he went 1-7 until he arrived in Toronto and beat Félix Auger-Aliassime in the first round. Then he took Andy Murray to 7-5 in the third set. Then be beat Ruud and Wawrinka before losing in three to Carlos Alcaraz in Cincinnati. Purcell meets countryman Christopher O’Connell in the first round of the US Open).
Arthur Weber (FRA): No. 386 =======> No. 307 (Weber, at 31, is a crazy story. A year ago, he was ranked No. 1684 and in the midst of a six-month period off the circuits. But he won the Challenger in Zhuhai, China – and is playing another one this week. Weber never played at the ITF junior level, and he was 24 years old when he played his first professional match, at a $15K ITF in Jakarta at the start of 2017).
Gabriel Debru (FRA): No. 355 =======> No. 310 (The 17-year-old French kid, who is managed by Félix Auger-Aliassime’s agent, hits a career high after making the final at a Challenger in Prague out of the qualifying. He’s the 2022 Roland Garros junior champion).
Leo Borg (SWE): No. 375 =======> No. 343 (Another week, another career high for Bjorn’s sun, who won an ITF in Jakarta and is grinding through the ranks the hard way. A. year ago, he was in the 700s and playign $15K in Egypt. So he’s come a long way).
ON THE DOWNSWING
Adrian Mannarino (FRA): No. 23 =======> No. 35 (Mannarino was the defending champion in Winston-Salem. But after a very busy week in Cincinnati, he – probably wisely, at 35 – decided a week of rest was better than a focus on defending those points. If he can make a run in New York he’ll get far more bang for his buck at the Grand Slam level than at the 250 level. Seeded No. 22, he faces Watanuki in the first round).
Botic van de Zandschulp (NED): No. 55 =======> No. 65 (The 27-year-old Dutchman went out in the first round of Winston-Salem to a lucky loser ranked No. 385; he made the semis there last year. A year ago, he was No. 22 in the world. He has won just one match since April – a five-setter at Wimbledon against Zhang Zhizhen in the first round. He skipped both Canada and Cincinnati, where he was borderline or into the main draw with his ranking even a few weeks ago. Jordan Thompson is his first-round opponent).
Fabian Marozsan (HUN): No. 83 =======> No. 92 (The Hungarian who made such a splash in Rome when he defeated Carlos Alcaraz has won some matches on the Challenger circuit since then – including a title in Perugia a few weeks later. But he’s in transition land now, and by coming to New York for the US Open, he sacrificed defending his title at a clay-court Challenger in Banja Luka from a year ago. He gets French veteran Richard Gasquet in the first round at the US Open, only his second career Grand Slam match of any kind – including qualifying).
Maxime Cressy (USA): No. 114 =======> No. 124 (A year ago, the throwback serve-volleyer was ranked No. 31 in the world and . This year, he hasn’t won back-to-back matches since the ATP in Montpellier in early February, and drops points from a quarterfinal effort in Winston-Salem a year ago. He has 14 first-round defeats in 2023. And he also lost in the second round of qualifying at the US Open, where he lost, 11-9 in the deciding match tiebreak, to Joris de Loore in the second round).
Fabio Fognini (ITA): No. 140=======> No. 146 (Fognini, 36, lost in the first round of qualifying at the US Open, thus meaning he won’t be in the main draw for the first time in eons. It couldn’t have escaped notice that he bowed out to a 17-year-old, Jakub Mensik, who’s young enough to be his son. Fognini drops points from a second-round effort in Winston-Salem last year, and he’ll drop second-round points from the US Open a y ear ago, where he came back from two sets to none down to win against Karatsev and went four sets with Rafael Nadal. It’s hard to know what the future holds for him).
Gabriel Diallo (CAN): No. 132 =======> No. 159 (In his US Open debut, the 21-year-old came oh, so close to getting through a first-round qualifying match against Kimmer Coppejans, but fell in a long match tiebreak to bow out. At a career high a week ago, his points drop from his Challenger title in Granby a year ago, so it’s back to the drawing board).
Juncheng Shan (CHN): No. 160 =======> No. 178 (Shang is still only 18, but he left the juniors behind a long time ago. He drops points from the Granby Challenger final a year ago, and he lost in the final round of the US Open qualifying this week to Otto Virtanen of Finland).
Steve Johnson (USA): No. 186 =======> No. 205 (Johnson drops out of the top 200 with the loss of his third-round points from Winston-Salem last year. He earned the USTA’s wild-card from the Challenge competition and, at 33, will hope to make a move even if it has not been much of a season for him. But he drew fellow Californian – and No. 9 seed – Taylor Fritz in the first round).
Jakub Mensik (CZE): No. 191 =======> No. 206 (Just as Mensik accomplishes a major feat by qualifying for his first US Open, he also drops out of the top 200 with Challenger points from a semifinal at a home-country Challenger in Prague falling off. Mostly, a year ago, he was barely inside the top 900 and playing lowest-level $15K ITF. That tells you how far he’s come in lightning fashion. Just 17, Mensik beat Fognini, Leandro Riedi and Zdenek Kolar to make the main draw, and is set to play Gregoir Barrere in the first round).
Damir Dzumhur (BIH): No. 179 =======> No. 211 (The 31-year-old former world No. 23 lost in the first round of US Open qualifying to Vavassori, and at the same time dropped his points from a Challenger final at home in Banja Luka to fall out of the top 200. Dzumhur has another Challenger final to defend in a few weeks’ time).
Filip Peliwo (POL): No. 342 =======> No. 376 (The Canadian now representing Poland lost in the first round of the Zhuhai Challenger, thus not defending points from a $25K ITF title a year ago. It was hardly a bad loss, at it turns out; Peliwo lost to 31-year-old Arthur Weber, who in unlikely fashion ended up winning the whole thing. He has another one this week).
THE CANADIANS
THE ROAD TO TURIN
THE DOUBLES ROAD
THE ROAD TO … JEDDAH
