via Reuters
The latest ATP rankings are in, and it’s a shakeup at the top! Novak Djokovic retains his number one spot, but there’s a historic shift behind him. The ATP rankings in February 2024 had zero one-handed backhands, breaking a record since 1973. However, AT LEAST one single-handed backhand player has made it to the list this time around. Thanks to the Monte-Carlo Masters’ final.
Everyone expected the Masters’ final to occur between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. However, as they say expect the unexpected. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud caused two major upsets to face each other in the ultimate battle. The efforts of the two players throughout the week made the final a must see event. Through their efforts, they also managed to change the rankings table of the top 10 in a major way.
The Greek player has had the biggest jump since Monte-Carlo. He began the tournament with not much promise, but turned it around completely. Prior to the tournament, he didn’t manage a deep run in any tournament, with a first-round exit in Miami. However, he won the Monte-Carlo Masters, only dropping one set in his entire run.
via Reuters
He proved himself a possible contender for the title when he beat Alexander Zverev 7-5, 7-6, winning 5 games in a row. The semifinal proved him an even bigger threat to Ruud as he beat Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, which was his toughest challenge of the entire tournament. For his efforts, Tsitsipas took home 1000 points and $978,999 prize money.
He also found his way back into the top 10. After dropping down to rank 12, he is now at 7. Tsitsipas brought his one-handed backhand back to the top 10, with Grigor Dimitrov also helping him revive the love of the shot.
Casper Ruud
While Tsitsipas’ win was surprising, Ruud’s run to the final was impressive as well. He began the year with an early exit in the Australian Open, but showed great promise as he reached the final in the Los Cabos Open and the Mexican Open, falling just short of winning the final. The Norwegian player then reached another final in Monte-Carlo, but had to relent to Tsitsipas.
He beat Hubert Hurkacz, the in-form Ugo Humbert and Novak Djokovic in the semifinal to reach the final. He dropped a set against Humbert and Djokovic, which were his only sets dropped till the final. Ruud played a bad first set against Tsitsipas, but showed why he deserved to the be the finalist in the second set. With the match closing out 1-6, 4-6 for Ruud, he still went home with $534,603 prize money and 650 points.
He went up 4 ranking points, which means he now sits at rank 6, and ready to face another opponent on clay in the Barcelona Open.
Novak Djokovic
The Djoker has only participated in three tournaments this year. Despite the fact, he is still number 1, with second being Sinner, who is still 1285 points away from number 1. Djokovic lost to Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal and then played in the Indian Wells Masters, where he lost to Luca Arnaldi in round 3. When he came to Monte-Carlo, fans expected another early exit, but he went ahead to ravage every player who faced him.
via Reuters
He didn’t drop a set to the semifinal and took revenge from Lorenzo Musetti for the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters. Ruud proved to be too much for him and won his first match against the Serbinator. Regardless, he went home with 400 ranking points and $292,318 and still occupying the number 1 spot on the table.
Aside from the three mentioned, Grigor Dimitrov and Hubert Hurkacz went down one spot each, with Andrey Rublev falling down two spots to rank 10. The three players are dangerously close to exiting the top 10, which means they will go guns blazing to go far in Barcelona to ensure they can at least keep their spot.
