Open—and her follow-up with a doubles title at this year’s French Open—gave marketers one more reason to chase the young American star, who has pursued a steady strategy off the court but has still found herself among the sport’s best paid. At the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony in July, she served as Team USA’s flag-bearer, alongside LeBron James, and she will be appearing on a limited-edition box of Wheaties. The “open” in the US Open means the tournament is open for anyone to compete.
Novak Djokovic
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.
Naomi Osaka
This year, the players have found themselves busier than ever, thanks to the inclusion of the Olympic tennis event on the schedule and the fact that matches are running longer and longer. Meanwhile the ATP have extended Masters 1000 tournaments to two weeks and the WTA have bumped up the number of mandatory events from four to 10. 2023 has been an amazing year in tennis, complete with record-setting performances on both the men’s and women’s sides. 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.
Carlos Alcaraz
Their mental capacity to do that and to be able to stay focused is unreal. That’s something I’d like to take from them, as well as being able to perform under all the pressure and circumstances they face on any given day. He created history at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Australian in 53 years to qualify for an Olympic men’s 800-metre final. The players’ association founded by Novak Djokovic is weighing up a programme of legal challenges that could reshape the world game. In 2020, Kenin won the Australian Open and finished the year fourth in the world; she finished 2022 at 228th. After her career was derailed by injuries and vanishing form, Kenin stubbornly found herself again in 2023, beating Gauff at Wimbledon and Sabalenka in Rome and, in San Diego in September, reaching her first tour final since the 2020 French Open.
Iga Swiatek splits with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski after 3 years
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.
Grand Slam Points Breakdown
You can see the full ATP Rankings below; you can also search for your favourite player to see their current ranking. While the PTPA has yet to be formally recognised by the tours or the slams, it is increasingly being included in the conversations around the future of the game. And Nassar believes that change https://zanzibet.org/bet/ is possible, despite the chaotic and internecine struggles that usually pass for tennis politics. If the PTPA decides to bring a case, one sensitive area for both tours is their shared stance on exhibition events, such as the lucrative Six Kings Slam being played in Saudi Arabia in a fortnight’s time.
ATP News
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.
Women’s Tennis WTA Rankings 2024
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.
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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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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.
- While the PTPA has yet to be formally recognised by the tours or the slams, it is increasingly being included in the conversations around the future of the game.
- These rankings are used for seedings and determining which tournament a player can enter directly.
- The 6-foot-11 serve-bot missed most of a year with a hip injury, then hurt his wrist during rehab.
- Gauff’s major breakthrough with a singles championship at the 2023 U.S.
- On-court earnings figures reflect prize money and Olympic medal bonuses collected over the last 12 months, dating to the 2023 U.S.
- Her serve needs work, but Pegula might be the only American with a better return game.
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.
Jannik Sinner confident in avoiding doping ban after WADA appeal
- In addition, you’ll catch past winners returning to the game after some time away and the hunt for first grand slam titles, courtesy of hungry, up-and-coming athletes.
- The tour adjusted to him in the spring and summer, and he found another gear in the fall.
- But such restrictions could potentially be classed as restraint of trade if a legal challenge were to be launched.
- They are updated frequently each week, and players can jump around spots daily.
- Before coming to Forbes, Knight worked in sports and business news as an editor at the New York Times.
- Known as “Queen Wen” to her fans, Qinwen Zheng has been befuddling opponents with her signature high-spinning forehand and powerful serve.
- It was cool getting to walk onto Rod Laver Arena and be part of a different sport.
- In another promising sign for the state of tennis, the average age of this year’s top 10 is 26, with only Djokovic and 38-year-old Rafael Nadal (No. 6, $23.3 million) outside their 20s.
- Nadal hasn’t set an official date for his retirement—“I’m not in a hurry to make a decision about my future,” he recently told Spanish newspaper Marca—but it’s clear the end is near for the legendary Spaniard, who withdrew from the U.S.
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.
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.
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The ATP rankings are the official world rankings for men’s singles tennis. They are calculated by taking a player’s best 19 tournament results to determine their ranking over the preceding 52 weeks. No one is yet approaching the financial stratosphere of Federer, who was the sport’s top earner from 2007 until his retirement and was still collecting an estimated $90 million annually when he hung up his racket. But Alcaraz’s $42.3 million is the best total by a player not named Federer, Djokovic, Naomi Osaka or Nadal in the 17 years that Forbes has compiled a tennis earnings ranking. And he has racked up four Grand Slam titles before his 22nd birthday—meaning the future of tennis is already here. Djokovic, who fell to Alcaraz in the last two Wimbledon finals but got revenge in the gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics, is back at No. 2 with $37.2 million and still leads the way with $12.2 million in prize money alone.
- He might have the best return game of any American, but at 6-foot-1 his service game isn’t nearly as big.
- 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.
- 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.
- I’m fast around the court, but I don’t have the agility that the top tennis players have.
- Since then, Radacanu has fallen out of the top 200, but she’s planning her return next year.
- If the PTPA decides to bring a case, one sensitive area for both tours is their shared stance on exhibition events, such as the lucrative Six Kings Slam being played in Saudi Arabia in a fortnight’s time.
- Carlos Alcaraz is leading the charge of the younger generation of professional tennis players.
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.
Nadal hasn’t set an official date for his retirement—“I’m not in a hurry to make a decision about my future,” he recently told Spanish newspaper Marca—but it’s clear the end is near for the legendary Spaniard, who withdrew from the U.S. For now, he is set to play in the Laver Cup in Berlin in September—the team tournament where, incidentally, Roger Federer bade farewell to competitive tennis in 2022. Nadal already had an Olympic sendoff in which he participated in the cauldron lighting along with retired sports stars Nadia Comaneci, Carl Lewis and Serena Williams, and he has played just six ATP Tour events in the last 19 months. Such a limited schedule would torpedo the pay of most athletes, especially in tennis, where sponsors often reduce their rates for players who fall in the rankings or miss time. Nadal has also become an ambassador for the Saudi Arabian tennis federation, an arrangement that has generated backlash from fans but is widely believed to be paying him seven figures annually.
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. Only Novak Djokovic tops that figure, and by less than $300,000—no small feat considering that the prize money available to women still lags behind the men’s at some tournaments beyond the four majors. “Obviously it’s not our decision, but for sure I think we have too many tournaments in the season,” she said in an on-court interview at the Cincinnati Open this month. “It’s not going to end well.” Swiatek stays busy off the court, too, signing partner deals this year with Lego and Lancôme.
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.
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.
With the new year right around the corner, 2024 is looking to bring even more drama-filled action to the courts with potential retirement plans for some of the all-time greats. In addition, you’ll catch past winners returning to the game after some time away and the hunt for first grand slam titles, courtesy of hungry, up-and-coming athletes. With all that said, we bet you’re asking yourself who you should be watching out for in 2024. Carlos Alcaraz is leading the charge of the younger generation of professional tennis players. At just 20 years old, the Spaniard has already racked up 12 career titles including two Grand Slams. With lightning-fast court speed, pinpoint accuracy from the baseline and a devious drop shot, Alcaraz has few, if any, weaknesses in his game as one of the most exciting players around.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 and Cincinnati, beating Iga Swiatek for the first time. Then she carved through the US Open field, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
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.