The 9 greatest ATP Tour players of the 2020s so far – ranked!
Twenty Grand Slams down, 19 to go: we are effectively just past the halfway point of the tennis decade.
The 2020s have proven to be a highly intriguing era of tennis so far, with big retirements, new stars rising, and plenty of hot talking points.
At the halfway point of the decade, we’ve decided to rank the nine greatest ATP Tour players of the decade so far.
We are only focusing on results from 2020 onwards, and are looking at a combination of Grand Slam results, titles won, overall consistency, and ranking.
9) Andrey Rublev
A lot has been made of Rublev’s Grand Slam record, but there can be no denying the Russian has been one of the most consistent players of the past five seasons or so.
One of just a handful of men born in the 1990s to reach the last eight at all four majors, Rublev has reached nine Grand Slam quarter-finals this decade and has been ranked high as world No 5.
He has reached six Masters 1000 finals, winning two titles, and has won 14 titles in total since the start of 2020.
8) Stefanos Tsitsipas
The only man with a one-handed backhand to reach our countdown, Tsitsipas has still managed to find huge success despite his form wavering in recent months.
Tsitsipas reached a career-high of world No 3 in 2021 and reached the French Open final that season, alongside a runner-up finish at the 2023 Australian Open.
The Greek has won seven titles this decade – including three Monte Carlo Masters titles – and has made 20 finals in total since the start of 2020.
7) Casper Ruud
Ruud rarely receives as much attention as many of his contemporaries but has achieved just as much as them in some aspects – and in some ways has outshone them.
The Norwegian is yet to lift a major title but has reached three Grand Slam finals – at the French Open in 2022 and 2023, and the US Open in 2022 – and has been as high as No 2 in the world.
Ruud is 12-10 in finals since the start of the decade and was also a runner-up at the ATP Finals in 2022, alongside reaching two Masters 1000 finals.
6) Alexander Zverev
Zverev’s Australian Open final defeat may well have cemented his place as the best male player to never win a Slam – but he has been a formidable force on tour.
Having reached a high of world No 2 in the ATP Rankings, the German can also boast of being a finalist at the 2020 US Open and 2024 French Open before his recent loss in Melbourne.
Zverev has won 12 titles this decade and was the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, alongside claiming the 2021 ATP Finals title and Masters 1000 crowns in Madrid, Cincinnati, Rome, and Paris.
5) Daniil Medvedev
Undoubtedly the most successful of the initial ‘Next Gen’ stars, Medvedev is the only player from his generation to so far reach world No 1 and win a Grand Slam.
Medvedev famously won his first major title at the 2021 US Open and reached the final again in 2023 – alongside finishing as the Australian Open runner-up in 2021, 2022, and 2024.
The Russian has also been twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist and has spent 16 weeks atop the ATP Rankings – winning 13 titles, including the ATP Finals in 2020 and four Masters 1000 successes.
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4) Rafael Nadal
Though he was in the latter stages of his career in the early 2020s, Nadal – who retired at the end of 2024 – remains one of the most impactful players of the decade to date.
The Spaniard’s haul of eight titles pales in comparison to some but that includes triumphs at the French Open in 2020 and 2022 – alongside his memorable Australian Open title in 2022.
Nadal was briefly No 1 at the start of 2020 and was back up at world No 2 for a spell in 2022, a ranking few others have been able to reach.
3) Jannik Sinner
Choosing between Sinner and Nadal for the top three was tricky, but the Italian’s latest Australian Open triumph just gives him the edge.
That was a third Grand Slam victory for Sinner, who previously triumphed at the Australian Open and US Open in 2024, and has so far spent 34 weeks (and counting) as the world No 1.
Sinner has won all of his 19 titles this decade – a total only one man can beat – and has won four Masters 1000 titles, an ATP Finals title, and back-to-back Davis Cup titles with Italy.
2) Carlos Alcaraz
Alcaraz has electrified tennis since he broke onto the tour back in 2021, and the Spaniard has become not only one of the biggest stars of the era – but also the most successful.
The Spaniard famously lifted the US Open title in 2022 and became the youngest-ever ATP No 1, holding the top ranking for 36 weeks to date.
He has since added two Wimbledon titles and a French Open crown to his Grand Slam collection and holds an overall haul of 16 ATP titles – including five Masters 1000 crowns.
1) Novak Djokovic
Realistically, there could only be one No 1 on our countdown.
Djokovic has continued to defy the odds across the 2020s, with perhaps no more recent example than his historic run to gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games last summer.
That is one of 22 titles he has won since 2020 and even if his career had started at the beginning of the decade, he would have still completed the Career Grand Slam.
Djokovic won the Australian Open in 2020, 2021, and 2023, the French Open in both 2021 and 2023, Wimbledon in 2021 and 2022, and sealed his 24th overall major title at the US Open in 2023.
With 153 weeks as the world No 1 this decade, alongside six Masters 1000 titles and two ATP Finals, he is well clear of the rest.
