Top 10s: Ranking the best men’s and women’s American players heading into 2024

Djokovic was the ATP Tour’s year-end No. 1 player for an unprecedented eighth season in 2023 and became the oldest No. 1 in the history of the tour’s computerized singles rankings in April. He ended up extending his record for most weeks at No. 1 to 428 and then filled the lone hole in his astonishing résumé with an Olympic gold medal in Paris—an accomplishment that also earned him a $218,000 bonus from his native Serbia. Djokovic, who now sits at No. 2 in men’s singles, split with his longtime agent Edoardo Artaldi last year but maintains a lucrative endorsement portfolio that includes Asics, Head, Hublot and Lacoste. This month, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia said there have been discussions about building a Djokovic museum in Belgrade. With lots of stars making gains and a couple breaking through in a major way, suddenly 2023 went from a year of stagnation to tantalizing development and depth.

Aryna Sabalenka

The World Tennis League on Friday unveiled a star-studded lineup of players, featuring two Olympic gold medallists and five Grand Slam champions for its third season. The protected ranking gives a player a spot in the rankings determined by the player’s average ATP Rankings position during the first three months of his injury. With 2024 NFL training camps on the horizon, the league’s true insiders made their voices heard.

Tennis gold medalists from Tokyo Olympics

There’s still room for improvement and plenty of time left to improve. After a change to her coaching team, she won summer titles in Washington https://zanzibet.org/ and Cincinnati, beating Iga Swiatek for the first time. Then she carved through the US Open field, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

• The former Texas Longhorns player cracked the top 200 in January, the top 100 in April and the top 50 in September.
• Below is a breakdown of the points awarded to players at ATP 250, 500, 1000, and grand slam tournaments in 2024.
• But no matter how many titles he won, he never ranked higher than No. 2 on the list of the sport’s highest-paid players—until Roger Federer’s retirement in 2022.
• Rublev, known for his explosive power and hard-shot baseline games, constantly delivers electrifying performances that leave fans in awe.
• It might be presumptuous putting the teenager here instead of more established players such as Mackenzie McDonald or Marcos Giron.
• When 52 weeks have passed since the points were acquired, they are dropped, and new points are added.

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I can be fast running in a straight line, but being agile is pretty hard. The players also complain that the four slams are paying roughly 14 to 16 per cent of their annual income out in prize money, whereas franchise sports in the USA – such as basketball – return around 50 per cent of their income to the players. The 6-foot-11 serve-bot missed most of a year with a hip injury, then hurt his wrist during rehab. After one match in a challenger event in November, he withdrew with a hand injury.

ATP Rankings

Before coming to Forbes, Knight worked in sports and business news as an editor at the New York Times. He graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in journalism and economics. Follow Knight for deep dives into the dollars driving the sports world.

Will Naomi Osaka play at the 2024 Olympics?

Iga Swiatek spent a whopping 75 consecutive weeks at world number one, the third-longest streak in WTA history, before getting bumped to number two after her fourth-round loss at the 2023 US Open. Swiatek’s strong forehand, in addition to her ability to hold serve incredibly well, makes it difficult for opponents to get ahead. If you are looking for the Live ATP rankings then this is available on the ATP Tour website. The Entry Protection status gives players entry into the main draw or qualifying competition or for special exempt consideration. The mission of the site is to allow tennis journalists and fans freedom and creativity in their writing, personal commentary, and out-of-the-box analysis. I’m a massive fan and I’ve been quite lucky to come to the Australian Open every single year.

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Open tune-up and climbing back to No. 2 in the singles rankings. Open as the betting favorite, looking to improve on 2023’s runner-up finish. Away from tennis, she recently reeled in endorsements with açaí bowl chain Oakberry and Master & Dynamic headphones. Gauff’s major breakthrough with a singles championship at the 2023 U.S.

Novak Djokovic

When 52 weeks have passed since the points were acquired, they are dropped, and new points are added. If you match your performance from 52 weeks ago, you have a net gain/loss of zero points. You’ll gain points if you better your performance, but if you perform worse, you’ll lose points.

ATP and WTA Rankings

But he also lost four straight matches at one point during the American summer swing and dropped back out of the top 50. The 6-footer has a slightly less consistent version of Paul’s game, but he can mix it up with just about anyone outside the top 10. Paul made the most of a favorable Australian Open draw to charge to the semis, then pulled off his best win of the season — a three-setter over Carlos Alcaraz — to reach the semifinals in Toronto. He might have the best return game of any American, but at 6-foot-1 his service game isn’t nearly as big.

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Currently the third-ranked player in the world, Daniil Medvedev is one of the most charismatic and outspoken individuals in tennis. Not afraid to get in a verbal altercation with the umpire over a ruling or even with members of the audience who aren’t seated during play, Daniil’s creativity on the court makes him one to watch. The 21-year-old from Spain has already won four Grand Slams and is coming off back-to-back major titles with triumphs at the French Open and Wimbledon. Djokovic and Nadal could play each other in the second round of the men’s singles event if they each win their first-round match.

For Jannik Sinner and the sport he dominates, this is a nightmare spiralling out of control

A player can use a protected ranking for the first nine tournaments they compete in using the Entry Protection or for up to nine months, beginning with the first tennis event that the player competes in, whichever happens first. This excludes wild cards and entries as a Direct Acceptance, should the true ranking allow this. In her past four Slams, Brady has won 15 matches and reached two semifinals and one final. Unfortunately, those four events have come in a more than three-year span.

• If you are looking for the Live ATP rankings then this is available on the ATP Tour website.
• After prevailing at the French Open for a fourth time in June, Swiatek earned a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, securing a $50,000 bonus from her native Poland on top of nearly $11.7 million in prize money over the last 12 months.
• Medvedev’s style of play is a perfect blend of versatility and precision, keeping opponents and spectators on their toes.
• The 22-year-old from San Candido, Italy started the year ranked 15th in the world before jumping to fourth as of the end of October.
• Suppose a player is physically injured and does not compete in any tennis event for twelve months or longer.

That might firmly establish that he’s got a lower overall ceiling, but he’s got a higher floor, too. The former Texas Longhorns player cracked the top 200 in January, the top 100 in April and the top 50 in September. She beat past French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko at Roland Garros and took Wimbledon champ Marketa Vondrousova to three sets at the US Open. Her serve might limit her ceiling, but her return game and groundstrokes are excellent. In all, tennis’ 10 highest-paid players earned an estimated $246 million over the past 12 months. That is well off the record of $343 million from 2020—when the now-retired Federer and Serena Williams accounted for $142 million between them—but the total represents a 26% increase from 2023’s $196 million.

ATP Rankings – Top 100 Male Tennis Players

It was cool getting to walk onto Rod Laver Arena and be part of a different sport. It was also interesting to see an athlete like Novak be able to run, to be able to stretch and play basketball. The PTPA has mostly stayed out of the headlines for the past five years, concentrating on building its infrastructure, offering player services and benefits, and raising revenue via trading cards and computer games.

With 24 Grand Slam titles to his name, Djokovic has achieved unmatched success. Talks of retirement for the 36-year-old Serbian have quieted down as Djokovic boasts peak form while the next gen of players seek to take his throne. Federer’s record run of weeks at number 1 started on the 2nd of February 2004 just after he won his second grand slam at the 2004 Australian Open and lasted until the 17th of August 2008, with Rafael Nadal replacing him as number 1. The winners of challenger tournaments receive between 50 and 175 points depending on the level of the tournament, with runners up receiving between 30 and 100 points. Note there are some changes for 2024, with more points on offer in many tournaments; for example, a finalist at ATP 500 level now gets 330 points, compared to the previous 300.

“The system is so biased against the players, as well as sub-optimal for fans and media partners and other commercial partners,” Nassar explained. “Only yesterday you had Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff playing in Beijing in what should be a celebrated match, but it’s late in the year and everyone’s already burned out. The ATP and WTA both use non-competition clauses which limit players’ ability to compete in these independent events away from the tour.

Daniil Medvedev

Shortly before that, both Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and British No 1 Jack Draper had separately attacked the sport’s packed schedule, with Alcaraz saying “it’s going to kill us in some way”, and Draper calling the status quo “mental”. “It’s a weird thing, but I think tennis is different than other sports because of it,” Alcaraz said of their shared commute. “Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner put on such a great, entertaining show. To me, it’s up there with the absolute best sporting events ever. The 37-year-old Serbian superstar’s next great rival, 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, has jumped to No. 1 this year with an estimated $42.3 million before taxes and agent’s fees over the last 12 months, dating to the 2023 U.S.

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Djokovic will face Australia’s Matthew Ebden to begin the tournament, while Nadal will square off against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics. The world’s top tennis players are getting ready to run it back at Roland-Garros. The official rankings are updated every Monday, except during the middle of Grand Slam tournaments and Miami + Indian Wells.

Foot and knee injuries kept her off the tour for nearly two straight years, but in six summer/fall events she managed to beat three top-30 opponents and nearly toppled Elena Rybakina in Montreal. After winning a second straight Australian Open title in January, Sabalenka missed Wimbledon with a shoulder injury, and she chose to skip the Olympics to rest. But she roared back to win this month’s Cincinnati Open, halting Jessica Pegula’s winning streak at the U.S.

She lost four of five to end the year, but she’s nearly back in the top 30 and, at 25, still has time to carve out another peak. On the men’s side, for instance, Tommy Paul reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, and Christopher Eubanks enjoyed a late-career breakthrough at Wimbledon. “I think for the people who don’t watch tennis, probably thanks to these kind of matches, [they] start to watch tennis or even practice it. I think it is pretty good.” “When Jannik and I face each other, playing against each other, I think it’s a really good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies.

ESPN surveyed league executives, coaches and scouts to help us rank the top 10 players at 11 different positions, from quarterback to cornerback and all positions in between. This was the fifth edition of these rankings, and as usual, several players moved up or fell off last year’s lists. I’ll have a hit every now and then, but I still need to improve a lot. I’m fast around the court, but I don’t have the agility that the top tennis players have.

As Nassar told Telegraph Sport, tennis’s ongoing inertia is a far bigger problem for the players than it is for the various powerbrokers – most of whom are too busy with day-to-day firefighting to look at the sport as a whole. It might be presumptuous putting the teenager here instead of more established players such as Mackenzie McDonald or Marcos Giron. The big-serving, 6-foot-4 Michelsen took down both McDonald and John Isner on his way to the Newport finals in July. Success on the challenger and futures circuits bumped him into the top 100 and earned him a spot in the year-end NextGen finals. We talk a lot about ceilings in a piece like this, and for a while it felt as if Gauff had found hers. She spent most of a year ranked either seventh or eighth in the world, and from August 2021 through May 2023, she went just 3-15 against top-10 opponents.

• And he has racked up four Grand Slam titles before his 22nd birthday—meaning the future of tennis is already here.
• The 38-year-old Spaniard has two Olympic gold medals in his trophy case, winning men’s singles in 2008 and men’s doubles in 2016.
• Alcaraz improved to 6-4 in his career against Sinner after their 10th meeting in what has become tennis’ top rivalry following the 60 matches between Nadal and Djokovic.
• Protected rankings cannot be used for seeding purposes or Lucky Loser consideration, nor can they be used for a top eight player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.

She played nine matches against top-20 opponents in 2023 and either beat them or took them to three sets five times. But she also lost 10 matches to players outside of the top 50. The 2017 US Open champion remains a threat in any match, but she still struggles to string good performances together. Collins was beset by unlucky draws in 2023, finishing seven of her 18 tournaments against Swiatek, Pegula or Rybakina.

Both players and their teams boarded the same private plane from Beijing to Shanghai, to prepare for the Masters 1000 event. Alcaraz improved to 6-4 in his career against Sinner after their 10th meeting in what has become tennis’ top rivalry following the 60 matches between Nadal and Djokovic. Novak Djokovic is the most decorated men’s tennis player in history when it comes to Grand Slams, but he will be chasing a career first in Paris. Draws for the five tennis events at the 2024 Olympics were announced on Thursday, July 25, the day before the Opening Ceremony.

India’s Sumit Nagal, world-ranked 83, will also return to the tournament. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who were part of the WTL 2023 title-winning team PBG Eagles, will compete again at the competition, along with 2024 US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz, Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud. Protected rankings cannot be used for seeding purposes or Lucky Loser consideration, nor can they be used for a top eight player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. Rankings work on a rolling 52-week period and take into account a player’s best results in 19 tournaments for the ATP and 16 for the WTA.

At this point, she’s taken home two WTA titles and currently ranking 18th in the world. The 24-time Grand Slam champion only has one Olympic medal, claiming bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. Among men’s players with at least 20 Grand Slam titles, he is the only one to never stand atop the Olympic podium with gold around his neck. Rafael Nadal will compete in his third and final Olympics this summer at Roland-Garros, where he has won 14 French Open titles. He struggled in this year’s French Open, however, falling to defending Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev in the first round. Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at ATP 250 tournaments receive 250 points with the runner-up receiving 150 points.

Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at ATP 500 tournaments receive 500 points with the runner-up receiving 330 points. Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at mandatory Masters 1000 tournaments receive 1,000 points with the runner-up receiving 650 points. However, this does not mean that players who play the most tournaments will be ranked the highest as there is a max of 19 tournaments that goes into the calculation of a player’s ranking. The first are the official world rankings updated weekly on Mondays when points from the previous 52 weeks have dropped.

But he’s also only 26, and if his now-lengthy injury history was more bad luck than a sign of things to come, he’s got plenty of time to again establish himself as a top-30 or so presence. He checked that one off at the Australian Open, his second Slam. The ultra-athletic, 6-foot-4 Shelton might have the most upside in the American player pool. The tour adjusted to him in the spring and summer, and he found another gear in the fall. When health, form and motivation all collide, Stephens remains a tough out.

Do players such as Pegula, Fritz and Tiafoe still have another level to add to their respective games? Sinner’s rollercoaster year took a dip this month when it was revealed he tested positive for a banned steroid in March and had to forfeit the prize money and ranking points he had earned at the Indian Wells tournament. But the International Tennis Integrity Agency found that the low levels in his system were the result of contamination, and Sinner was not forced to miss any time on tour. While he did sit out the Paris Olympics because of tonsillitis and has been hampered by a hip injury, his season has taken him to new heights as well. Off the court, he picked up endorsements with skincare line La Roche-Posay and De Cecco pasta, alongside existing sponsors like Gucci, Lavazza coffee and Rolex.