His runner-up finish in Melbourne also gave him records for the most sets played at a Grand Slam tournament (31) and the most time spent on court (24 hours 17 minutes). An avid gamer, Medvedev has partnerships with HyperX gaming headsets and game makers EA Sports and Ubisoft, and he joined the ownership group of esports organization M80 last year. Since turning pro in 2003, Novak Djokovic has piled up a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, staking his claim as tennis’ greatest of all time. 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. The following year, Djokovic finally seized the top spot, with a combined $38.4 million in on-court and estimated off-court earnings.
From Carlos Alcaraz to Coco Gauff, here is a look at the top tennis stars headed to the Olympics.
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.
Get to know Team USA Olympians ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics
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.
Challenger Tournaments
Current world number one ranked player, Sabalenka has been taking women’s tennis by storm with her powerful and aggressive style of play. The 25-year-old Belarusian is a hard worker with an even harder groundstroke. Sabalenka made it to at least the semi-finals in all four of the Grand Slam appearances in 2023, and is a name you’ll be sure to see at the top of leaderboards time and time again.
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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.
ATP Points 2024
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.
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But she went against everyone else on tour, with two top-10 wins and four quarterfinal appearances. She is managing a number of chronic issues and doesn’t play a ton of events, but at worst she should remain a constant bracket-buster candidate in any tournament. On-court earnings figures reflect prize money and Olympic medal bonuses collected over the last 12 months, dating to the 2023 U.S. The list includes athletes active during the 12-month time period. Known as “Queen Wen” to her fans, Qinwen Zheng has been befuddling opponents with her signature high-spinning forehand and powerful serve. The 25-year-old from China relies on her speed to control points from serve, and has shown a lot of promise in her young career.
List of World Number 1s from 1973 to 2024
“I hope Roger, Novak, and Rafa are not listening, but in terms of level, when Sinner and Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way anyone has ever played better tennis. She reached the third round in her first Olympics and is coming off a second-round defeat to eventual champion Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon. The ATP Rankings system is the method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals to see who should qualify and who should be seeded in the different singles and doubles ATP Tournaments held all across the world.
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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.
For Jannik Sinner and the sport he dominates, this is a nightmare spiralling out of control
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.
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.
- No qualifier entry has ever gone on to win the US Open until 2021 when 18-year-old Emma Raducanu did just that, claiming the Grand Slam title in dominating fashion without dropping a set the entire tournament.
- Taylor Fritz basically ended the year where he started from a rankings standpoint and couldn’t turn a top-10 ranking into sustained threats in Grand Slams.
- 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.
- On the women’s side, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff both remained steady threats, but for much of the year, they, too, seemed to be running in place a bit.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- But starting with his US Open quarterfinal defeat to Shelton, he lost five of seven and dropped his last six sets of the year.
I think Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia and once you combine that with the weather, it’s unreal. As well as being one of Australia’s leading track athletes, Olympian Peter Bol reveals he is also a massive tennis fan in our Celebrity Match series. The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) has hired “multiple global law firms” to carry out what its chief executive calls “a full, top-to-bottom physical of the entire structure of tennis”. On the women’s side, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff both remained steady threats, but for much of the year, they, too, seemed to be running in place a bit.
Jannik Sinner will not be stripped of US Open even if he receives drugs ban after Wada appeal
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.
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.
- It was cool getting to walk onto Rod Laver Arena and be part of a different sport.
- The tour adjusted to him in the spring and summer, and he found another gear in the fall.
- 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.
- Before coming to Forbes, Knight worked in sports and business news as an editor at the New York Times.
- 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.
Novak Djokovic
16 spots of the 128-person field are reserved for professionals or amateurs who win three matches in the qualifying tournament. No qualifier entry has ever gone on to win the US Open until 2021 when 18-year-old Emma Raducanu did just that, claiming the Grand Slam title in dominating fashion without dropping a set the entire tournament. Since then, Radacanu has fallen out of the top 200, but she’s planning her return next year. Ben Shelton is a rising star who brings power, agility, and fearlessness to the game. Shelton’s elite serve speeds—which have hit as high as 149 mph during tournament play—draw gasps from the audience and racket claps from opponents.
Women’s Tennis WTA Rankings 2024
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.
Muchova snaps Sabalenka’s winning streak to reach Beijing semifinals
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.
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.
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.
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.
The second table is the live rankings; this showcases real-time rankings of a player’s position in the race to finish in the Top 8 for the season-ending ATP and WTA Finals. They are updated frequently each week, and players can jump around spots daily. But starting with his US Open quarterfinal defeat to Shelton, he lost five of seven and dropped his last six sets of the year. Since winning four of five against top-10 opponents in 2021, he’s dropped nine of his last 11 and went 0-3 (with zero sets won) this year.
- 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.
- 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.
- Since winning four of five against top-10 opponents in 2021, he’s dropped nine of his last 11 and went 0-3 (with zero sets won) this year.
- She also beat two top-15 players, Maria Sakkari and Keys, in September.
- 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.
- 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.
- This list is intended to celebrate the skill, persistence, and flair of these athletes while also appreciating the transformative effect they have had on the game we love.
- The ATP Rankings system is the method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals to see who should qualify and who should be seeded in the different singles and doubles ATP Tournaments held all across the world.
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.
Novak Djokovic is the current world number 1 in the ATP rankings, with Novak currently holding the record for most weeks as the No.1 in men’s tennis. As the season draws to a close, the live rankings become more important as they reflect where a player will finish the year in the ATP Rankings. The ATP rankings determine which tournaments a player can enter and their seeding. For example, Carlos Alcaraz is known as the World No. 1 because he sits in first place in the Rankings. Casper Ruud is known as a Top 10 player because he is No. 4 in the Rankings.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Djokovic, a familiar name to tennis enthusiasts, continues his legacy as one of the greatest with his superior strategy and unmatched consistency. Meanwhile, Sinner delights fans with his athletic prowess, striking winners from every corner of the court. The story of the summer, Eubanks reached the quarterfinals in Miami, then produced a 14-4 record on grass, winning in Mallorca and beating Stefanos Tsitsipas on the way to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. The self-proclaimed “worst athlete in the family” appeared to be on his own mega-breakthrough in 2023 after dominating Daniil Medvedev on his way to the Australian Open quarterfinals. But a wrist injury there knocked him out for most of four months, and he won only one Slam match the rest of the year. He won 10 of 12 at one point in the fall, however, and his game is the most well rounded of any of the other “young, big-serving American” prototypes.
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.