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With the staggered starts and midweek finishes, this week’s “Monday” updated rankings really only come out Wednesday, after the end of the Beijing tournament.

But there are plenty of moves, with the Astana and Beijing events at the ATP level, and plenty of Challengers.

A large number of players reached their career highs this week. And still others didn’t defend points and made significant drops.

Notable among those who have their work cut out for them before the end of the season are Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil.

WTA Rankings Report – As of Oct. 2, 2023

For the complete, updated ATP rankings for this week, click here.

ON THE UPSWING

Jannik Sinner (ITA): No. 7 =========> No. 4 (A win in a stacked ATP 500 with victories over the No. 2 and No. 3 players in the world mean that 22-year-old Sinner moves up to a career high. He is some 2,500 points behind No. 3, and nearly 4,000 points behind No. 2. But it’s still rarefied air. Sinner is in the Medvedev quarter in Shanghai).

Adrian Mannarino (FRA): No. 34 =========> No. 23 (Mannarino, 35, has had a low-key GREAT season, the latest being his title at the ATP 250 in Astana. It’s his 20th year as a pro, and he’s one off his career high reached in March, 2018. Mannarino could meet Andrey Rublev in the third round in Shanghai).

Matteo Arnaldi (ITA): No. 48 =========> No. 42 (The young Italian, just 22, reaches a new career high with a second-round effort in Beijing. He faces Alexei Popyrin in the first round in Shanghai).

Sebastian Ofner (AUT): No. 58 =========> No. 49 (The 27-year-old Austrian has come a long way this year. And his semifinal effort in Astana (which included wins over Thiem and Alexander Bublik) puts him into the top 50 for the first time in his career. A year ago, he was ranked No. 190. Juan Pablo Varillas is his Shanghai opener).

Dominic Thiem (AUT): No. 81 =========> No. 72 (The former world No. 3 and Grand Slam champion is at his highest ranking since April 2022. He appears to be skipping the rest of the Asian swing after making the Astana quarterfinals, to prep and train for the indoor European circuit).

Jack Draper (GBR): No. 106 =========> No. 92 (At a career high No. 38 in January, Draper’s season has been injury-plagued. But he made the second week in New York. And made the final at a challenger in Orléans, France last week to move back into the top 100).

Tomas Machac (CZE): No. 118 =========> No. 96 (The 22-year-old Czech is into the top 100 for the first time since a six-week period at the end of the 2022 season, and at a career high. He wins the Orléans Challenger beating a really solid field including Draper, Gasquet, Bonzi and Creeey, with the loss of only one set).

Hamad Medjedovic (SRB): No. 120 =========> No. 105 (Novak Djokovic’s protégé, just 20, moves to a career high after reaching the Astana semifinals. He took Sebastian Korda, ranked No. 28, to 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 before going down. A year ago, Medjedovic was outside the top 250).

Thiago Agustin Tirante (ARG): No. 143 =========> No. 111 (The 22-year-old is another of the many players at a career high, after he won the $160K Challenger in Bogotá last week. Helping his case was that he got a walkover in the final).

Alejandro Tabilo (CHI): No. 131 =========> No. 120 (A little over a year ago, Tabilo was at a career high No. 64. But it’s been an up-and-down year for the Chilean-Canadian, who made the quarterfinals in Bogotá).

Oriol Roca Batalla (ESP): No. 267 =========> No. 207 (The 30-year-old, who has been toiling at the Challenger level for years, reaches a career high after winning the Challenger in Braga, Portugal. Roca Batalla has just one match at the ATP level in his career).

Abdullah Shelbayh (JOR): No. 274 =========> No. 215 (The 19-year-old from Jordan continues to make history for his country, winning the Challenger in Charleston and moving up to a career high. Just a few weeks ago, Shelbayh was playing a $25K ITF in Tunisia – and didn’t even win it. And he’s had plenty of first-round losses this year. But he’s still making his way).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Frances Tiafoe (USA): No. 11 =========> No. 13 (The US Open quarterfinalist lost two matches in Davis Cup, and then won a singles match at Laver Cup against Hubert Hurkacz. But he withdrew from – at least – the early part of the Asian swing and drops 45 points as he gets a zero-pointer for skipping the Beijing event. Tiafoe also has 300 points coming off next week from making the Tokyo final a year ago. Tiafoe could get Nicolas Jarry in the third round in Shanghai, and Taylor Fritz in the round of 16).

Jan-Lennard Struff (GER): No. 22 =========> No. 27 (Struff drew Casper Ruud in the first round of Beijing, going out in his opener and not defending his points from a qualies-to-quarters fun at an ATP 250 in Sofia a year ago).

Denis Shapovalov (CAN): No. 30 =========> No. 37 (The descent begins for Shapovalov, who hasn’t played since losing in the round of 16 at Wimbledon. His absence is going to be felt now, with this first tranche the points from an ATP event in Seoul a year ago. He has semifinal points from Tokyo coming off next week, and points from the final of an ATP 500 in Vienna coming off at the end of the month. That’s 570 more points – nearly half his current total – which, if he doesn’t play, will drop his ranking outside the top 100 for the first time since he first crossed that threshold after the 2017 Rogers Cup).

Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN): No. 38 =========> No. 48 (Nishioka lost in the second round of Beijing to the eventual champion, Sinner. A year ago, he won the title in Seoul over Shapovalov in the final).

Juan Manuel Cerundolo (ARG): No. 88 =========> No. 102 (Cerundolo has been on the South American clay Challenger circuit since the US Open. He was idle last week, and so drops his points from winning a Challenger in Buenos Aires a year ago).

Liam Broady (GBR): No. 93 =========> No. 104 (After his bucket-list moment in finally getting in the top 100, the Brit drops out again. Idle last week, he drops his points from a qualifying-to-quarterfinals run at the pop-up ATP event in Tel Aviv a year ago).

Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI): No. 103 =========> No. 169 (From a career high of No. 47 in early February, Huesler has dropped way off. He hasn’t won back-to-back matches since Eastbourne, on grass last June. And he was defeated by No. 362 Athur Fery in the first round of the Orleans Challenger last week. A year ago he won the Sofia ATP tournament over Holger Rune in the final. So those points drop).

Vasek Pospisil (CAN): No. 186 =========> No. 220 (Pospisil posted his first back-to-back match wins since January at the Columbus Challenger two weeks ago. But he went out in the first round in Charleston to No. 290 Brandon Holt, winning just four games. And so the points from his qualies-to-quarters run in Tel Aviv a year ago drop off. Pospisil also went out in the first round this week in Tiburon, to No. 164 Adam Walton. Pospisil has a final at Mouilleron-le-Captif to defend this week, a semifinal from Ismaning the week after that, a quarterfinal from the 2022 Calgary Challenger and a title at the Drummondville Challenger last November to defend this year. That’s nearly 2/3 of his current point total. And without those points he’s barely inside the top 450. So it’s crunch time, in the 33-year-old Canadian’s career).

Jenson Brooksby (USA): No. 230 =========> No. 307 (With the twin issues of surgeries and also a suspension for whereabouts sanctions winding its way through the process, the American – so highly touted just a year ago – has a lot on his plate when he does return to action).

Marin Cilic (CRO): No. 245 =========> No. 441 (Cilic has never really come back from knee surgery, which took him out after the season-opening tournament in Pune, India back in January. He returned – for a match – at home in Umag on clay in July. But that’s been it. A year ago, he won the Tel Aviv tournament, and those points drop off).

Fernando Verdasco (ESP): No. 461 =========> No. 519 (Now 39, Verdasco has continued to play wherever he can this year, mostly on the Challenger circuit. But without wild cards, that ranking isn’t going to get him into a lot of places. The writing, perhaps, is finally on the wall).