American tennis enjoyed a bumper week in Canada as champion Ben Shelton, finalist Brandon Nakashima, and semi-finalist Learner Tien jumped up the ATP rankings.
Despite having an underwhelming summer, which included early French Open and Wimbledon exits, Shelton emphatically retained his Canadian Open title, this time in Montreal. The 23-year-old didn’t drop a set, and as the US Open approaches, the big-server is in a confident mood.
He said in his post-match press conference, “For me, this week was a massive stepping stone; I would say even more than what I did in Toronto last year because of the way that I did it. I thought I was much more clinical, more focused.
“I was an elite returner at times. But the way that I was able to break serve, the fashion in which I did it, my ability to play defence and offence, I’m excited with the way that I’m progressing. Throughout this season on the hardcourts, I felt that each tournament I’ve gotten better and better.
“And obviously we’re still early in this US Open swing and have a lot of hard court tennis to play through the rest of the year. So I’m just really looking forward to see what kind of damage I can do moving forward.”
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So, what has this done to the tennis rankings landscape? In the top 30, Nakashima has jumped nine places to 22nd, Tien rises from 19th to 12th, and Shelton is up four to sixth. That also means he is once again the American No 1 ahead of Taylor Fritz.
Montreal semi-finalist Rafael Jodar has also climbed four spots to 11th, with the 19-year-old on the cusp of breaking Boris Becker’s 31-year record for the fastest rise from the top 100 to the top 10 in tennis history.
Further down the rankings, quarter-finalist Daniel Merida has shot up 23 places to 40th, while the likes of Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul have dropped down three places to 23rd and 24th respectively.
This is the picture for the official rankings but in the live ones, Alexander Zverev has once again leapfrogged the injured Carlos Alcaraz, who will not defend his Cincinnati crown due to an ongoing wrist injury.
World No 1 Jannik Sinner is also out, this time with a knee issue, leaving the field wide open.
For the official ATP Ranking list, see below.
ATP Rankings Top 20
1. Jannik Sinner, Italy – 13,450
2. Carlos Alcaraz, Spain – 8,160
3. Alexander Zverev, Germany – 8,090
4. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Canada – 4,740
5. Novak Djokovic, Serbia – 3,760
6. Ben Shelton, United States – 3,670 (+4)
7. Daniil Medvedev, Russia – 3,580 (-1)
8. Alex de Minaur, Australia – 3,560 (-1)
9. Taylor Fritz, United States – 3,375 (-1)
10. Flavio Cobolli, Italy – 3,330 (-1)
11. Rafael Jodar, Spain – 2,621 (+4)
12. Learner Tien, United States – 2,545 (+7)
13. Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan – 2,525 (-2)
14. Jiri Lehecka, Czechia – 2,470 (-2)
15. Lorenzo Musetti, Italy – 2,415 (-2)
16. Jakub Mensik, Czechia – 2,395 (+1)
17. Casper Ruud, Norway – 2,385 (-3)
18. Andrey Rublev, Russia – 2,230 (-2)
19. Valentin Vacherot, Monaco – 2,186 (-1)
20. Luciano Darderi, Italy – 2,175 (+2)
Outside the top 20, Arthur Fils has jumped three places to 21st, Thiago Tirante has climbed 15 spots to 50th, and Nuno Borges is up to 47th from 55th.
WHAT NEXT? Iga Swiatek gets a big rankings boost and a prize money windfall after win in Toronto
