A look at the players who finished the COVID shortened 2020 ATP season ranked inside the top 30 including the talented Alex de Minaur, Borna Coric, and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
#21 Felix Auger-Aliassime
Auger-Aliassime went 23-19 in 2020 and showed his promise, reaching three ATP finals on the season. On the downside, He lost all three of those finals and the 20 year old is still missing a maiden ATP title. Growing his confidence and focus in the big matches will be key. FAA will be happy for the year end break as he fizzled to finish the year on a four match losing streak. The Canadian has proven himself capable of beating most of the players on tour, but a distinct lack of wins against the top 10 is holding him back from reaching the highest level. FAA will look to start the year refreshed, and will be aiming for a great run at the Australian Open, with a top 10 win.
#22 Cristian Garin
Chile’s Cristian Garin won a pair of titles in 2020 and cemented himself inside the top 25. The clay court specialist went 18-12 overall, with his biggest win of the season the final in Cordoba against home player Diego Schwartzman. Garin will need to improve his game off of clay in 2021 if he’s going to make further progress up the rankings, and he must perform better in Grand Slams. He’s never made it to the second week of a slam, despite clearly being capable.
#23 Alex de Minaur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRRpOVj1-L8
One of Australia’s biggest tennis hopes, de Minaur had a quiet 2020 going 9-10. It didn’t start quietly though, de Minaur beat Denis Shapovalov and Alexander Zverev at the ATP Cup in Australia, before injuring himself and missing both ATP Adelaide and the Australian Open with an abdominal injury. de Minaur returned in a big way at the US Open, beating Karen Khachanov en route to the quarterfinals. de Minaur accomplished nothing else of note on the season and failed to win a match on clay (0-2) but if he’s healthy, 2021 is almost certain to be better.
#24 Borna Coric
Croatia’s #1 Coric went 16-12 including wins over Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and a single ATP final in St. Petersburg. He also had a quarterfinal at the US Open and a semifinal in Rio. Coric’s biggest issue on the year was consistency, he lost a number of matches to players ranked considerably below him in the rankings, and those early exits are why he didn’t finish year end top 20.
#25 John Isner
Tour veteran John Isner had a quiet 2020, going 10-10 with a pair of hard court semifinals in Auckland and Acapulco. Isner’s serve centric game was capable of producing some solid results, but a number of players were able to crack Isner’s game and he failed to challenge the tour’s best on the season. The veteran will need to find a way to innovate his game to avoid a rankings slide in 2021.
#26 Dusan Lajovic
A 14-16 season was enough to keep Lajovic in the top 30. Aside from the ATP cup Lajovic didn’t make it beyond the quarterfinals in 2020, and the highlight of his season was being part of Team Serbia in that ATP Cup, and a win against Karen Khachanov in Hamburg. Posting more wins on clay will be Lajovic’s focus in 2021.
#27 Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud reached a career high of #25 during the 2020 season with an excellent 22-13 record and an ATP title in Buenos Aires, his first and only ATP title thus far. Norway’s #1 player also reached a final in Santiago on clay, semis in Rome via a win against Matteo Berrettini, and the semis in Hamburg. Clay was where Ruud produced his best results by far, but he’s set to make bigger strides into the top 20 in the 2021 season. He’s one of the most promising players on the ATP Tour.
#28 Benoit Paire
It was a down year for Benoit Paire, he went 10-13 and slumped to finish the year on a three match losing streak including a loss at his home French Open. Paire’s only highlight on the year was reaching the final in Auckland and a rankings slide could be coming in 2021.
#29 Taylor Fritz
It was a 13-15 season for the American Fritz who reached the final in Acapulco as the highlight of his season. Fritz was able to secure main draw wins in all three Grand Slams played in 2020 to help pad his ranking, and while his consistency has improving, securing wins against players ranked well above him is his next project to work on.
#30 Filip Krajinovic
Krajinovic was able to build off a career 2019, going 16-12 in 2020 including a semifinal in Rotterdam and a quarterfinal at the Cincinnati Masters. Krajinovic had wins over Andrey Rublev, Dominic Thiem, and Felix Auger Aliassime on the season, although he struggled in both the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
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