10 Best Men's Tennis Players

Best Men's Tennis Players in 2023

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Seismic Shift in Men's ATP Tennis Rankings at Rogers Cup, US Open Series

After 4 years of Federer and Nadal at the top of the heap, Scotsman Andy Murray has broken through to the #2 ranking, creating a wide open men's field for the US Open.

Murray, 22, is the first British man to hold the #2 ranking since 1973. (Popular Englishman Tim Henman never rose above the #4 spot during his recently-ended career.) Andy Murray has a 6-2 win loss record against #1 Roger Federer and his clearly stated goal is the #1 spot. Here are Andy's words after his semifinal win at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Saturday, from his official website:

"....so bar winning a Slam, I've done enough to justify being No. 2, and you know, getting closer to hopefully one day becoming No. 1 is one of my goals. So it's great. I've put in a lot of hard work to get to this stage, and I keep working hard to go one step farther."

This more fluid men's field is particularly welcome news not only to Murray, but also to Andy Roddick of the U.S. and Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the last weeks before the U.S. Open tournament. Roddick (#5) and Del Potro (#6) are looking strong late in the 2020 season and will be expected to play well at the U.S. Open. Rangy twenty year old Del Potro, or "Delpo," is currently on fire, with a win over Roddick at the Legg Mason tournament and a 2nd place finish to Murray at the Rogers Cup. Meanwhile Roddick has recently shown an incredibly well-rounded game, savvy, fitness, and stamina. His narrow loss to Federer after 4 ¼ hours in the July Wimbledon final has won him tremendous respect. In addition, Andy Roddick has a particular affinity for the US Open; Roddick's only grand slam win to date was at the U.S. Open in 2003 and he made the finals in 2020.

Serbian Novak Djokovic (#4) could also benefit from a more open field, but his recent performance has been disappointing. At the Rogers Cup, he lost his quarter final match to Andy Roddick without putting up much of a fight. His best performance was in the pre-tournament charity fashion show when he stripped down to his Speedo. It would be a surprise to see him excel at the U.S. Open.

For some time now, both Federer and Nadal have shown some vulnerability and the gulf between the top two and the rest of the field has narrowed. This came to a head at the Rogers Cup in Montreal when both Federer and Nadal lost to lower-ranked opponents and were eliminated in the quarter-finals of this US Open Series warmup tournament. Federer lost to #7 ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, while Nadal was overwhelmed by up and coming Del Potro #6. Meanwhile, Andy Murray won his semi-final match against Tsonga of France (who had just defeated Federer), guaranteeing himself sufficient ATP points to move up from #3 to #2. A win against Del Potro in the final on Sunday further cemented his hold on that #2 rung.

Significance of the Rankings

The ATP rankings are important not only because they identify and recognize the best players in the world, but also because they determine which players may enter ATP tournaments at different levels and their seeding at those tournaments. Seeding is critical to the "draw", which specifies which players meet in the first round, second round, etc. The top seeds are placed at opposite ends of the draw and therefore will meet only in the tournament finals-if both survive to the finals. If Murray is seeded #2 at the U.S. Open (as seems almost certain), this means that Nadal and Federer could meet earlier in the tournament and the winner of the Nadal-Federer matchup could meet Murray in the finals.

The ranking is based on points awarded at ATP-sanctioned tournaments and certain other high profile events, such as the Beijing Olympics in 2020. For example, Murray won 1000 points for his win in Montreal, which is one of the "1000 Series" ATP events. Murray's high ranking is particularly noteworthy because it has been accomplished without any of the 2000 point allotments that go to winners of the four grand slam events.

Rankings are updated weekly and released on Mondays. At any given time, rankings are based on ATP points earned during the previous 52 weeks. Therefore, Andy Murray's move up to the #2 ranking reflects not only his strong showing in recent tournaments such as the Rogers Cup, but his general improvement across many tournaments this past year. Nadal's drop in the rankings reflects not only his recent performance, and the break he took due to injury, but also the subtraction of the 800 points he earned for his win at the Olympics, which is now more than 52 weeks ago.

As of Monday, August 17 the top ATP rankings with points are as follows:

1 Roger Federer, 11,040

2 Andy Murray, 9250

3 Rafael Nadal, 8665

4 Novak Djokovic, 7150

5 Andy Roddick, 5800

6 Juan Martin Del Potro, 5405

7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 3960

8 Nikolay Davydenko, 3655

Will these rankings hold as the field enters the U.S. Open?

These rankings are likely to hold as the men compete at the Western and Southern Financial Group ATP Masters Series 1000 Tournament in Cincinnatti August 17-23. All of the top 8 players are gathering there for the last time before the U.S. Open. (The top players are not slated to appear at the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven the very last week before the Open.) The winner in Cincinnati will claim 1000 points, the runner-up 600 points, semi-finalists 360 points, quarter-finalists 180 points. Given the substantial 585 point difference between Murray and Nadal, it would take a Nadal win in combination with a poor showing by Murray to reverse their rankings. With Murray as the defending champion, fresh from his victory in Montreal, this seems unlikely.

Sources:

ATP Tour website: www.atpworldtour.com

ESPN2 coverage of Rogers Cup Tournament, Lead Commentator Brad Gilbert

Rogers Cup Tournament website: www.rogerscup.com