ATP Rankings: Novak Djokovic’s 400-week countdown on, Ben Shelton hits new career-high, Gael Monfils surges
There was only one change in the top 10 of the latest ATP Rankings with Novak Djokovic still very much in the driving seat and on course to hit the 400-week milestone as No 1 before the year is out.
Djokovic started his 396th week at No 1 in the ATP Rankings on Monday and, if things go according to plan for the 24-time Grand Slam winner, then he will reach the 400-week mark after the ATP Finals on November 20.
The top five players in the rankings – Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev – were all in active last week so there was no movement while those below them wasted good opportunities to make up ground.
Djokovic is still sitting pretty at No 1 with 11,045 points and a handy 2,240-point lead over Alcaraz although there will be plenty of changes in the coming weeks as the Spaniard will drop 180 points this week for his semi-final run to Basel last year.
Next week they both have points to defend at the Paris Masters and it remains to be seen if Alcaraz will play at the ATP Masters 1000 event as he is struggling with injury while both will also compete at the ATP Finals in November.
Further down the top 10, Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev swapped places with the American now sitting at No 9.
Besides Fritz and Zverev, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Hubert Hurkacz will all feel they missed out this week after suffering fairly early exits from tournaments last week.
Rising star Ben Shelton, though, did make the most of the big guns’ mishaps in Tokyo as he went all the way at the Japan Open to win his maiden ATP Tour singles title.
RAISE IT UP HIGH 🏆 @BenShelton #KinoshitaGroupJapanOpen pic.twitter.com/5EmHNdqBEW
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 22, 2023
Besides the shiny trophy and the winner’s cheque, Shelton also had a four-place jump in the rankings and now sits at a career-high No 15.
Nicolas Jarry from Chile is also up to a career-high ranking as he reached the top 20 for the first time.
Shelton’s fellow ATP Tour singles title winners this weekend, Alexander Bublik and Gael Monfils also enjoyed rankings rises with the former climbing six places to No 30 after winning the European Open title.
Monfils surged up 51 places to No 89 to return to the top 100 for the first time since January this year. The Frenchman dropped to No 394 in May after struggling with injury, but has made steady progress in recent months before his title run at the Stockholm Open last week.
Cameron Norrie remains the highest-ranked Britain, but he now sits at No 18 with Dan Evans at No 35, Andy Murray No 40 and Jack Draper No 91.
ATP Rankings Top 20
1. Novak Djokovic Serbia 11,045 points
2. Carlos Alcaraz Spain 8,805
3. Daniil Medvedev – 7,355
4. Jannik Sinner Italy 5,000
5. Andrey Rublev – 4,765
6. Holger Rune Denmark 4,400
7. Stefanos Tsitsipas Greece 4,300
8. Casper Ruud Norway 3,705
9. Taylor Fritz United States 3,500
10. Alexander Zverev Germany 3,460
11. Hubert Hurkacz Poland 2,900
12. Tommy Paul United States 2,775
13. Alex De Minaur Australia 2,650
14. Frances Tiafoe United States 2,400
15. Ben Shelton United States 2,355
16. Karen Khachanov 2,340
17. Grigor Dimitrov Bulgaria 2,195
18. Cameron Norrie Great Britain 1,985
19. Felix Auger-Aliassime Canada 1,940
20. Nicolas Jarry Chile 1,720
