
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) have recently released the new edition of the players’ rankings and the big news that has come out from this line-up is that former Spanish No. 1 Rafael Nadal has dropped out from a top-five spot.
Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev has taken Nadal’s spot in the top five. Nadal, who lost his last game against Novak Djokovic in the French Open semi-finals due to his foot injury, has dropped down to the sixth position and he may drop further due to the extended break he has taken for his injury and will definitely miss the 2021 season entirely.
Fellow Spanish compatriot, Carlos Alcaraz climbed 17 spots to be at number 38 in the rankings. He reached the quarter-final stages at the US Open and became the youngest player at 18 to reach this stage, since 1963. Unfortunately, his tournament was cut short due to a thigh injury.
His last eight opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime also jumped up the rankings as he climbed four spots to reach no. 11 in the rankings. Other players who climbed up significantly were South African player Lloyd Harris who gained 15 places to lie in the 31st position and Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp who moved up 55 spots to be 62nd.
Novak Djokovic still remained the world no. 1, despite losing to Daniil Medvedev at the US Open final. His performances throughout the year are still taken into account and hence comfortably remains at the top spot. US Open winner Daniil Medvedev also remains at No. 2. Tsitsipas and Zverev stay at No. 3 and No. 4 positions respectively. Casper Ruud also made his entry into the top 10 for the first time in his career.