November 29, 2024

Open Court

MORE TENNIS THAN YOU'LL EVER NEED

ATP Rankings Report – As of Feb. 5, 2024

The first week post Australian Open only featured one ATP Tour event, and a 250-level one at that.

Even if the level of it was pretty high with Holger Rune, Alexander Bublik and both top Canadians taking part.

Players like Hubert Hurkacz, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas all played Davis Cup, which of course does not grant ranking points.

Both Canadians in Montpellier moved up.

No changes in the top 20.

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

Read us

ON THE UPSWING

Alexander Bublik (KAZ): No. 27 ==========> No. 23 (Bublik beat both Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime on his way to the final where he faced not Rune, as expected, but Borna Coric after Rune retired in their semifinal. He became the first player on the ATP Tour to come from a set down to win in every match of his tournament. And in doing so he reaches a new career high).

Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN): No. 30 ==========> No. 28 (Auger-Aliassime put his ranking back on an upward slope with his semifinal effort in Montpellier. He faces wild card Quentin Halys in the first round in Marseille this week).

Borna Coric (CRO): No. 37 ==========> No. 31 (Coric had a lot of issues in 2023. But he announced his return with a great week in Marseille in reaching the final).

Flavio Cobolli (ITA): No. 76 ==========> No. 71 (Just 21, Cobolli is moving up the rankings that are very full of Italians. He’s raised his ranking 100 spots in a year. He’s No. 5 on the Italian depth chart after Sinner, Musetti and Arnaldi (who are his age) and Sonego).

Arthur Cazaux (FRA): No. 83 ==========> No. 80 (Cazaux was very hard on the level of his play after losing a tight one to Auger-Aliassime in the second round of Montpellier. But he moves to yet another career high. A year ago, he was ranked No. 229).

Brandon Nakashima (USA): No. 96 ==========> No. 91 (Nakashima, whose career high ranking of No. 43 came in Oct. 2022, is back on the comeup as he reaches the Koblenz final. He began the year at No. 134, so it’s going well).

Denis Shapovalov (CAN): No. 137 ==========> No. 127 (Just winning one match in Montpellier was worth 10 ranking spots for the 24-year-old Canadian, who has a wild card into Marseille this week and will face a qualifier in the first round).

Patrick Kypson (USA): No. 185 ==========> No. 158 (Kypson was part of that class of 2016 in the juniors that included Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexei Popyrin and the two Canadians. But he went the college route at Texas A&M, and is just now getting started. He got the USTA’s reciprocal wild card into the main draw in Australia. And this week he won Cleveland Open Challenger and is close to breaking the top 150. A year ago, he lost in the first round in Cleveland and was ranked No. 521. Solid rise).

Read us

Alex Bolt (AUS): No. 291 ==========> No. 255 (Bolt made a splash getting to the third round of the AO in 2019, beating Gilles Simon in five sets and Jack Sock in the first round. He peaked at No. 125 nearly five years ago But injuries kept him out, and he dropped as low as No. 1521 in Oct. 2022 before beginning the long climb back. The final at the Burnie Challenger helps him on that road).

Bernard Tomic (AUS): No. 302 ==========> No. 277 (Tomic wins an ITF in Chennai to move back into the top 300 after a week out. He has spent six months right around that range. To say the former No. 17 has been on a … journey is to understate the case, as he’s played low-level tournaments around the globe the last few years. Tomic played 23 Challengers, four 25Ks and two 15Ks in 2023; he began the year ranked No. 435 and ended it No. 289).

Ethan Quinn (USA): No. 337==========> No. 288 (In his first steps as a pro, the 19-year-old reaches the Cleveland Challenger final and leaps into the top 300. A year ago, he was outside the top 500 and didn’t even play a pro event until June, because he was in university).

Filip Krajinovic (SRB): No.400 ==========> No. 380 (The former No. 26, now age 31, was out since last year’s Roland Garros before returning to action this past week. A year ago, he was ranked No. 56. But the Serb moves up 20 spots just by winning a round at the Koblenz Challenger).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Rinky Hijikata (AUS): No. 74 ==========> No. 88 (Hijikata stayed behind in Australia to play a Challenger in Burnie. He lost in the second round; last year, he won it).

Aleksandar Kovacevic (USA): No. 85 ==========> No. 100 (The 25-year-old drops his points from winning the Cleveland Challenger a year ago – one of four Challenger titles for him in 2023).

Gabriel Diallo (CAN): No. 132 ==========> No. 138 (Representing your country means giving up a couple of weeks on Tour to raise your ranking, and Diallo drops points from making the quarterfinals at the Cleveland Challenger a year ago. He also misses this week, where he might well have been able to play the qualifying in Dallas. He got in there as a lucky loser a year ago. But there’s a nice cheque involved in the Davis Cup to salve that wound; he’ll look to make those points up in the next weeks).

(Photo: Tennis Canada)

Vasek Pospisil (CAN): No. 486 ==========> No. 816 (The good news is that Pospisil is healthy, as he displayed when he once more did his country proud last weekend in Davis Cup in Montreal. The bad news? He reached the final of the Challenger in Koblenz, Germany a year ago, and this week he couldn’t earn any points to defend it as Davis Cup doesn’t offer any. And so that’s what his ranking looks like. His last injury absence was only three months, as he returned at a pair of Challengers in California before Davis Cup. It’s sort of career crossroads time for the 33-year-old right now).

THE CANADIANS

The Race to Turin (Singles)

The Race to Turin (Doubles)

Read us

About Post Author