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best tennis players 2024

Navarro won just one Slam match, but she finished the year on the brink of the top 30 thanks to steadily awesome performances at minor events. She reached seven ITF finals (with five titles) and won 64 of a grueling 88 matches. She also beat two top-15 players, Maria Sakkari and Keys, in September. Her serve needs work, but Pegula might be the only American with a better return game.

List of World Number 1s from 1973 to 2024

Tsitsipas has racked up ten career wins since turning pro in 2016, currently holding a spot as the seventh ranked player in the world. Coco Gauff captured the attention of the tennis world with her stunning three-set victory over world number one Aryna Sabalenka at the 2023 US Open. Gauff’s finals performance drew more viewers than the men’s championship match and at just 19, the third-ranked American is a newfound leader in the sport. Below is a breakdown of the points awarded to players at ATP 250, 500, 1000, and grand slam tournaments in 2024. A male professional tennis player’s ranking is based on their performance at ATP-sanctioned tournaments over the proceeding 52-week period. The lineup includes six of the top 12 male players and six of the top 10 female players, with 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcíkova and women’s doubles Paris 2024 gold medallist Jasmine Paolini making their debut.

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Equally noteworthy in the list are the Russian aces, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who are reinventing the game with their tenacious performances. Medvedev’s style of play is a perfect blend of versatility and precision, keeping opponents and spectators on their toes. Rublev, known for his explosive power and hard-shot baseline games, constantly delivers electrifying performances that leave fans in awe. Carrying forward the legacy of German tennis, Alexander Zverev’s intelligent gameplay and clinical finishes make him a formidable force in the circuit. The list wouldn’t be complete without the mention of the tennis maestro Carlos Alcaraz, the ever-dominant Novak Djokovic, and the energetic Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz, the young prodigy, has fascinated fans with his relentless passion and speed on the court.

Jannik Sinner

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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  • 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.
  • The ATP rankings are the official world rankings for men’s singles tennis.
  • Sinner defeated world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals at the 2023 Miami Open, and has attributed his recent success to his improved mental, physical conditioning, and change in coaching staff.
  • 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.
  • Unfortunately, those four events have come in a more than three-year span.
  • 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.
  • Away from tennis, she recently reeled in endorsements with açaí bowl chain Oakberry and Master & Dynamic headphones.

Ruud claimed his 12th career ATP Tour title in May in Geneva. Eleven have come on clay, but when he is healthy—a parasite hindered him in the spring, and an illness knocked him out of this month’s tournament in Montreal—Ruud can compete on any surface. He is the only man 25 or younger with at least 100 career victories on both hardcourts and clay. Off the court, Ruud has added deals with Fleming watches, Swedish bank Handelsbanken and Renault, on top of a half-dozen existing sponsors. 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. Sinner defeated world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals at the 2023 Miami Open, and has attributed his recent success to his improved mental, physical conditioning, and change in coaching staff.

best tennis players 2024

Carlos Alcaraz

  • With 24 Grand Slam titles to his name, Djokovic has achieved unmatched success.
  • He spent much of the year battling a nagging knee injury; after ranking in the mid-40s for most of the spring, he found himself in the 150s in October.
  • Navarro won just one Slam match, but she finished the year on the brink of the top 30 thanks to steadily awesome performances at minor events.
  • Medvedev has a single Grand Slam win—in Flushing Meadows in 2021—but he has reached five other major finals, including the 2019 and 2023 U.S.
  • Off the court, Ruud has added deals with Fleming watches, Swedish bank Handelsbanken and Renault, on top of a half-dozen existing sponsors.
  • 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.
  • I can be fast running in a straight line, but being agile is pretty hard.
  • He created history at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Australian in 53 years to qualify for an Olympic men’s 800-metre final.

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.

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

With a game style that has been described as a mix of Nadal and Federer, Holger Rune is part of the younger cohort leading the charge of the next generation of elite players. Rune, who turned pro in 2020, has four career titles, including the 2022 ATP Masters in Paris and the 2023 BMW Open in Munich, and is currently ranked sixth in the world. Jessica Pegula spent much of her early career battling on the lower ITF circuit, taking 11 years after turning pro to break into the top 100. Her determination and precision on the court, as well as the experience she has gained with her doubles partner Coco Gauff, have paid off. The 29-year-old American is now the fifth-ranked player in the world, holding four WTA singles titles and seven doubles titles.

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“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.

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These rankings are used for seedings and determining which tournament a player can enter directly. After a bright 2022, Nakashima suffered a lost year of sorts. He spent much of the year battling a nagging knee injury; after ranking in the mid-40s for most of the spring, he found himself in the 150s in October.

  • Her serve might limit her ceiling, but her return game and groundstrokes are excellent.
  • The first are the official world rankings updated weekly on Mondays when points from the previous 52 weeks have dropped.
  • She was nearly upset-proof, but she was struggling to break through to a top-five level.
  • Below are links to the latest ATP and WTA rankings for singles and doubles.
  • Winners of the men’s singles and doubles grand slam tournaments receive 2,000 points with the runner-up receiving 1,300 points.

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She was nearly upset-proof, but she was struggling to break through to a top-five level. “I think we both respect each other a lot, as a player, as a person, but once we are on tour travelling, during tournaments when we are on site, we are with our team on our own, so we don’t speak too much. Canelo Álvarez, Devin Booker, Carli Lloyd and the Cavinder twins. He has also reported on industry trends such as the tech revolution in trading cards, Las Vegas’ rise as a sports town and the American-led investments in Italian soccer. Knight joined Forbes in 2017 and previously served as the assistant managing editor for contributors—overseeing the website’s network of nearly 3,000 freelance writers and the editors working with them—and as the deputy business editor.

Coco Gauff into China Open quarters with Naomi Osaka injury

The best part of the game is probably how fast it is and watching it live, you can appreciate how good they are. You can follow it on television, but when you’re sitting courtside and trying to follow the ball it’s impossible. I had the chance to try and return one of Novak’s serves and that was impossible. Unusually for the incestuous world of tennis, the 44-year-old Nassar has worked at a high level in other sports, including the NFL. His mentor was David Stern – formerly the commissioner of the US’s biggest basketball league – and he brings Stern’s can-do attitude to his present post.

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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.

best tennis players 2024

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 Points 2024

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.

But such restrictions could potentially be classed as restraint of trade if a legal challenge were to be launched. Already this season, we have seen proposals for a streamlined “Premium Tour” peter out, while cases of player burn-out proliferate, and matches increasingly extend into the small hours of the morning. Frustration is building within both the men’s and women’s locker rooms. The PTPA’s central point is that the average tennis player remains overworked and underpaid by the standards of global sport. Although the ATP and WTA Tours have staved off the spectre of a LIV-style breakaway, mainly by granting official events to Saudi Arabia, it now seems as though revolution could come from within.

The average age of male players in the top 100 is just under 27 years old with Luca Van Assche, Arthur Fils, and Alex Michelsen (19) the youngest players, and Stan Wawrinka (38), the oldest player in the top 100. The ATP Rankings are not to be confused with the ATP Live Rankings. For example, a player can be first in the Live Race but lower in the ATP Rankings because he has enjoyed more success in the current season. I met Nick Kyrgios during the summer and I’m a massive fan of his. He’s doing amazing things off the court and we’ve got some of the same interests, like basketball, so hopefully I’ll get the chance to meet him a few more times. I think I was more nervous to have a run with him than I would be in an Olympic final.

Paris Olympics: See dates, sports, how to watch and more

  • From Novak Djokovic putting his 24th grand slam title in the record books to Coco Gauff’s US Open finals three-set stunner, fans were treated to moments that will go down in history.
  • Winners of the men’s singles and doubles grand slam tournaments receive 2,000 points with the runner-up receiving 1,300 points.
  • Below are links to the latest ATP and WTA rankings for singles and doubles.
  • The first are the official world rankings updated weekly on Mondays when points from the previous 52 weeks have dropped.
  • We’re serving up the ultimate ranking of the best tennis players of 2024, a list created for fans, by fans.
  • She was nearly upset-proof, but she was struggling to break through to a top-five level.
  • Our criteria for ranking these athletes takes into account this year’s performance on the court, current ATP rankings, consistency, sportsmanship, and popularity among fans globally.

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.

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.

Below are links to the latest ATP and WTA rankings for singles and doubles. The site primarily focuses on the men’s game but also covers the financials of the sports, equipment reviews, strings, and every tournament at Grand Slam, 1000, and 500 level. Since then it’s gone on to be one of the largest independently owned website for tennis news and a platform for fans to share their views on the game.

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.

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 https://zanzibet.org/ 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.

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.

Veterans like Madison Keys, Danielle Collins and Sloane Stephens battled consistency issues. Speaking during his post-match press conference in China, Alcaraz expanded on his bubbling rivalry with the Italian, telling reporters the two “aren’t close friends.” “It keeps happening every single time they play. They come up with suspense, they come up with entertainment.” “They are following in the footsteps of the ‘Big Three’ in terms of level,” Wilander told EuroSport. Novak Djokovic holds the record for most year end number 1s with a total of eight to his name (2023, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2012, and 2011), followed by Pete Sampras with six, and Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, and Rafael Nadal with five. Since then a total of 28 different men have achieved the number 1 status, with the current number 1 being Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

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. He did not compete at the 2012 or 2020 Olympics due to injury. The first official rankings were published by the ATP on the 23rd of August 1973 with Ilie Nastase being the first tennis player to be ranked number 1 in the world.