The hard court events in North America have brought significant results for several players. Some were title winners, while others had unprecedented deep runs. The ATP rankings have altered significantly after last week’s Toronto Masters 1000. Eight men are now at their best ever career ranking. Read below to discover which players have achieved that feat.
Eight ATP Players Reach Career High Ranking
Holger Rune #5
The 20-year-old Dane is inside the Top 5 for the first time in his career. This is despite a disappointing tournament in Toronto, where he lost in three sets to Marcos Giron in the round of 32. Rune is benefiting from strong results earlier this year, but also from not defending a very high number of points from last year’s North American hard court season. The indoor hard court events after the US Open is where the Grand Slam quarterfinalist’s ranking will be seriously tested. Last year he won the prestigious Paris Masters 1000 and an ATP 250 event in Stockholm. In addition he reached finals at an ATP 500 in Basel and another 250 in Sofia. That leaves Rune with a huge 1700 points to defend from those tournaments.
Jannik Sinner #6
The Italian has been rewarded for his superb week in Toronto with a new career high ranking of #6. Sinner overcame Alex de Minaur relatively comfortably in straight sets to win the first ATP Masters 1000 title of his career. A Masters title felt inevitable for the Wimbledon semifinalist despite being just 21-years-old, and he was widely congratulated throughout the tennis world. Sinner will have fairly significant points to protect from his quarterfinal run at the US Open last year. But he is not defending anywhere close to the same amount as Rune for the rest of 2023, meaning raising his ranking even more before the end of the season is not unrealistic.
Alex de Minaur #12
The Toronto final against Sinner ended painfully for the Australian #1, but he has still earned himself a new best ranking after his first Masters 1000 final. It has been two excellent tournaments in a row for de Minaur. He also reached the final of the Los Cabos Open the previous week, falling that time to Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 24-year-old’s runner-up finish to Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP 500 in Queens in June is another reason for his best ever ranking Three final losses in a row will be frustrating, but he did win at the Mexican Open in February. De Minaur is an excellent player who deserves more respect, and hopefully a new career high ranking will help that to happen.
Tommy Paul #13
Although a title win has eluded Paul so far this season, he has played consistently good tennis. His run to the semifinal in Toronto was the first time he had reached that stage of a Masters event, and included a win against world #1 Carlos Alcaraz. 2023 has had other highlights for the American. Paul got to his first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open back in January. He was also runner-up to de Minaur at the Mexican Open, and again in Eastbourne to Francisco Cerundolo. Those good results throughout the season so far have given him a deserved new high ranking.
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina #23
Davidovich Fokina had undoubtedly the best week of his season so far in Toronto. The Spaniard‘s run to the semifinals included stunning victories against Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud, before being stopped by de Minaur. The new #23 in the world had built his ranking throughout the season with repeated quarterfinal appearances, including at the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells. Reaching the third round of Wimbledon and the French Open also helped his ranking. Last year’s Monte Carlo Masters runner-up will seek to take the next step of winning a first career ATP title.
Tallon Griekspoor #25
The Dutchman lost in the first round in Toronto, and is already out of Cincinnati after an opening round loss to Francis Tiafoe. But he was defending no points last week in Toronto, and his outstanding run to the final in Washington the previous week means he is now at a new career high of #25. Griekspoor has also won two titles this season so far. The first was at the Maharashtra Open, and the second at his home tournament in Hertogenbosch. The 27-year-old has a golden opportunity to improve his ranking further. Last year he lost all his ATP main draw matches from the US Open until the end of the season. Therefore he has almost no points to defend for the rest of 2023.
Mackenzie McDonald #43
McDonald’s quarterfinal run in Toronto last week was his first at Masters 1000 level. The 28-year-old is another player who has been consistent without winning a title. He has reached an abundance of quarterfinals at ATP 250 and 500 level this season, before his run in Toronto that has taken him to a career best ranking. McDonald has a reasonable amount of points to defend for the rest of 2023. This is due to a semifinal in the Tennis Napoli Cup last year, and two other quarterfinals. He will need to play well to maintain or improve his ranking.
Aleksansar Vukic #48
The Australian had a good week in Toronto. His run to the third round represents his best result at an ATP Masters 1000 event. He also did it after coming through qualifying, and then beat Borna Coric and Sebastian Korda in the main draw. Vukic built on his great week in Atlanta, where he reached his first ever ATP final. The 27-year-old has taken some time to fully develop his game, but is now playing the best tennis of his career. Vukic has points from two Challenger Tour finals, and an ATP quarterfinal to defend before the end of the season. But there is opportunity for him to raise his ranking further.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
