18 Tennis Players to Watch 2024: Your Guide to the Top Athletes

A player can use a protected ranking for the first nine tournaments they compete in using the Entry Protection or for up to nine months, beginning with the first tennis event that the player competes in, whichever happens first. This excludes wild cards and entries as a Direct Acceptance, should the true ranking allow this. In her past four Slams, Brady has won 15 matches and reached two semifinals and one final. Unfortunately, those four events have come in a more than three-year span.

• The ATP Rankings are not to be confused with the ATP Live Rankings.
• But she also lost 10 matches to players outside of the top 50.
• He checked that one off at the Australian Open, his second Slam.
• Sabalenka made it to at least the semi-finals in all four of the Grand Slam appearances in 2023, and is a name you’ll be sure to see at the top of leaderboards time and time again.
• Collins was beset by unlucky draws in 2023, finishing seven of her 18 tournaments against Swiatek, Pegula or Rybakina.
• She beat past French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko at Roland Garros and took Wimbledon champ Marketa Vondrousova to three sets at the US Open.
• Ruud claimed his 12th career ATP Tour title in May in Geneva.

Latest on Sportstar

Foot and knee injuries kept her off the tour for nearly two straight years, but in six summer/fall events she managed to beat three top-30 opponents and nearly toppled Elena Rybakina in Montreal. After winning a second straight Australian Open title in January, Sabalenka missed Wimbledon with a shoulder injury, and she chose to skip the Olympics to rest. But she roared back to win this month’s Cincinnati Open, halting Jessica Pegula’s winning streak at the U.S.

Off-side: The not-so-secret cost of chasing profits in sports

Djokovic was the ATP Tour’s year-end No. 1 player for an unprecedented eighth season in 2023 and became the oldest No. 1 in the history of the tour’s computerized singles rankings in April. He ended up extending his record for most weeks at No. 1 to 428 and then filled the lone hole in his astonishing résumé with an Olympic gold medal in Paris—an accomplishment that also earned him a $218,000 bonus from his native Serbia. Djokovic, who now sits at No. 2 in men’s singles, split with his longtime agent Edoardo Artaldi last year but maintains a lucrative endorsement portfolio that includes Asics, Head, Hublot and Lacoste. This month, President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia said there have been discussions about building a Djokovic museum in Belgrade. With lots of stars making gains and a couple breaking through in a major way, suddenly 2023 went from a year of stagnation to tantalizing development and depth.

Federer’s special gesture for next generation of stars

She lost four of five to end the year, but she’s nearly back in the top 30 and, at 25, still has time to carve out another peak. On the men’s side, for instance, Tommy Paul reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, and Christopher Eubanks enjoyed a late-career breakthrough at Wimbledon. “I think for the people who don’t watch tennis, probably thanks to these kind of matches, [they] start to watch tennis or even practice it. I think it is pretty good.” “When Jannik and I face each other, playing against each other, I think it’s a really good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies.

Men’s Tennis ATP Rankings

Djokovic will face Australia’s Matthew Ebden to begin the tournament, while Nadal will square off against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics. The world’s top tennis players are getting https://zanzibet.org/ ready to run it back at Roland-Garros. The official rankings are updated every Monday, except during the middle of Grand Slam tournaments and Miami + Indian Wells.

Current ATP Rankings – Men’s Singles

Taylor Fritz basically ended the year where he started from a rankings standpoint and couldn’t turn a top-10 ranking into sustained threats in Grand Slams. Frances Tiafoe dipped his toe into the ATP top 10 but suffered a major funk at the end of the year. Sebastian Korda seemed primed for a breakthrough but missed months with an injury. Jenson Brooksby was suspended for 18 months for missed drug tests. In another promising sign for the state of tennis, the average age of this year’s top 10 is 26, with only Djokovic and 38-year-old Rafael Nadal (No. 6, $23.3 million) outside their 20s. Monastir champion Sonay Kartal and Guadalajara finalist Olivia Gadecki have become the 15th and 16th players to break the Top 100 for the first time in 2024.

Coco Gauff into China Open quarters with Naomi Osaka injury

• She also beat two top-15 players, Maria Sakkari and Keys, in September.
• Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, who were part of the WTL 2023 title-winning team PBG Eagles, will compete again at the competition, along with 2024 US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz, Hubert Hurkacz and Casper Ruud.
• Draws for the five tennis events at the 2024 Olympics were announced on Thursday, July 25, the day before the Opening Ceremony.
• The PTPA’s central point is that the average tennis player remains overworked and underpaid by the standards of global sport.
• The ATP Rankings system is the method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals to see who should qualify and who should be seeded in the different singles and doubles ATP Tournaments held all across the world.
• Talks of retirement for the 36-year-old Serbian have quieted down as Djokovic boasts peak form while the next gen of players seek to take his throne.

Shortly before that, both Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and British No 1 Jack Draper had separately attacked the sport’s packed schedule, with Alcaraz saying “it’s going to kill us in some way”, and Draper calling the status quo “mental”. “It’s a weird thing, but I think tennis is different than other sports because of it,” Alcaraz said of their shared commute. “Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner put on such a great, entertaining show. To me, it’s up there with the absolute best sporting events ever. The 37-year-old Serbian superstar’s next great rival, 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, has jumped to No. 1 this year with an estimated $42.3 million before taxes and agent’s fees over the last 12 months, dating to the 2023 U.S.

Who has spent the most consecutive weeks at number 1 in men’s tennis?

But he also lost four straight matches at one point during the American summer swing and dropped back out of the top 50. The 6-footer has a slightly less consistent version of Paul’s game, but he can mix it up with just about anyone outside the top 10. Paul made the most of a favorable Australian Open draw to charge to the semis, then pulled off his best win of the season — a three-setter over Carlos Alcaraz — to reach the semifinals in Toronto. He might have the best return game of any American, but at 6-foot-1 his service game isn’t nearly as big.

Challenger Tournaments

The 38-year-old Spaniard has two Olympic gold medals in his trophy case, winning men’s singles in 2008 and men’s doubles in 2016. He did not compete at the 2012 or 2020 Olympics due to injury. The first official rankings were published by the ATP on the 23rd of August 1973 with Ilie Nastase being the first tennis player to be ranked number 1 in the world.

Who holds the record for most year end number 1s in men’s tennis?

Veterans like Madison Keys, Danielle Collins and Sloane Stephens battled consistency issues. Speaking during his post-match press conference in China, Alcaraz expanded on his bubbling rivalry with the Italian, telling reporters the two “aren’t close friends.” “It keeps happening every single time they play. They come up with suspense, they come up with entertainment.” “They are following in the footsteps of the ‘Big Three’ in terms of level,” Wilander told EuroSport. Novak Djokovic holds the record for most year end number 1s with a total of eight to his name (2023, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2012, and 2011), followed by Pete Sampras with six, and Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, and Rafael Nadal with five. Since then a total of 28 different men have achieved the number 1 status, with the current number 1 being Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

At this point, she’s taken home two WTA titles and currently ranking 18th in the world. The 24-time Grand Slam champion only has one Olympic medal, claiming bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games. Among men’s players with at least 20 Grand Slam titles, he is the only one to never stand atop the Olympic podium with gold around his neck. Rafael Nadal will compete in his third and final Olympics this summer at Roland-Garros, where he has won 14 French Open titles. He struggled in this year’s French Open, however, falling to defending Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev in the first round. Winners of the men’s singles and doubles at ATP 250 tournaments receive 250 points with the runner-up receiving 150 points.

As Nassar told Telegraph Sport, tennis’s ongoing inertia is a far bigger problem for the players than it is for the various powerbrokers – most of whom are too busy with day-to-day firefighting to look at the sport as a whole. It might be presumptuous putting the teenager here instead of more established players such as Mackenzie McDonald or Marcos Giron. The big-serving, 6-foot-4 Michelsen took down both McDonald and John Isner on his way to the Newport finals in July. Success on the challenger and futures circuits bumped him into the top 100 and earned him a spot in the year-end NextGen finals. We talk a lot about ceilings in a piece like this, and for a while it felt as if Gauff had found hers. She spent most of a year ranked either seventh or eighth in the world, and from August 2021 through May 2023, she went just 3-15 against top-10 opponents.

I can be fast running in a straight line, but being agile is pretty hard. The players also complain that the four slams are paying roughly 14 to 16 per cent of their annual income out in prize money, whereas franchise sports in the USA – such as basketball – return around 50 per cent of their income to the players. The 6-foot-11 serve-bot missed most of a year with a hip injury, then hurt his wrist during rehab. After one match in a challenger event in November, he withdrew with a hand injury.

• Not afraid to get in a verbal altercation with the umpire over a ruling or even with members of the audience who aren’t seated during play, Daniil’s creativity on the court makes him one to watch.
• The self-proclaimed “worst athlete in the family” appeared to be on his own mega-breakthrough in 2023 after dominating Daniil Medvedev on his way to the Australian Open quarterfinals.
• I think Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia and once you combine that with the weather, it’s unreal.
• “When Jannik and I face each other, playing against each other, I think it’s a really good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies.
• The second table is the live rankings; this showcases real-time rankings of a player’s position in the race to finish in the Top 8 for the season-ending ATP and WTA Finals.
• 16 spots of the 128-person field are reserved for professionals or amateurs who win three matches in the qualifying tournament.
• Jessica Pegula spent much of her early career battling on the lower ITF circuit, taking 11 years after turning pro to break into the top 100.
• Frustration is building within both the men’s and women’s locker rooms.

The left-handed 21-year-old made waves during the 2023 US Open where he upset the 10th and 14th-seeded players, ultimately losing to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. The below list of the top 100 male tennis players in the 2024 ATP Rankings List is updated every Monday as soon as the updated ranking goes live on the ATP Tour website. Suppose a player is physically injured and does not compete in any tennis event for twelve months or longer. A player can gain protected ranking status when physically injured and does not compete in any tennis event for a minimum of six months. The petition is issued to the ATP (usually the CEO) and must be received within six months of his last tournament.

ATP Rankings – Top 100 Male Tennis Players

The ATP rankings are the official world rankings for men’s singles tennis. They are calculated by taking a player’s best 19 tournament results to determine their ranking over the preceding 52 weeks. No one is yet approaching the financial stratosphere of Federer, who was the sport’s top earner from 2007 until his retirement and was still collecting an estimated $90 million annually when he hung up his racket. But Alcaraz’s $42.3 million is the best total by a player not named Federer, Djokovic, Naomi Osaka or Nadal in the 17 years that Forbes has compiled a tennis earnings ranking. And he has racked up four Grand Slam titles before his 22nd birthday—meaning the future of tennis is already here. Djokovic, who fell to Alcaraz in the last two Wimbledon finals but got revenge in the gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics, is back at No. 2 with $37.2 million and still leads the way with $12.2 million in prize money alone.

Celebrity Match with Peter Bol

It was cool getting to walk onto Rod Laver Arena and be part of a different sport. It was also interesting to see an athlete like Novak be able to run, to be able to stretch and play basketball. The PTPA has mostly stayed out of the headlines for the past five years, concentrating on building its infrastructure, offering player services and benefits, and raising revenue via trading cards and computer games.

That might firmly establish that he’s got a lower overall ceiling, but he’s got a higher floor, too. The former Texas Longhorns player cracked the top 200 in January, the top 100 in April and the top 50 in September. She beat past French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko at Roland Garros and took Wimbledon champ Marketa Vondrousova to three sets at the US Open. Her serve might limit her ceiling, but her return game and groundstrokes are excellent. In all, tennis’ 10 highest-paid players earned an estimated $246 million over the past 12 months. That is well off the record of $343 million from 2020—when the now-retired Federer and Serena Williams accounted for $142 million between them—but the total represents a 26% increase from 2023’s $196 million.

• Current world number one ranked player, Sabalenka has been taking women’s tennis by storm with her powerful and aggressive style of play.
• Frances Tiafoe dipped his toe into the ATP top 10 but suffered a major funk at the end of the year.
• For example, a player can be first in the Live Race but lower in the ATP Rankings because he has enjoyed more success in the current season.
• Open tune-up and climbing back to No. 2 in the singles rankings.
• As Nassar told Telegraph Sport, tennis’s ongoing inertia is a far bigger problem for the players than it is for the various powerbrokers – most of whom are too busy with day-to-day firefighting to look at the sport as a whole.
• For now, he is set to play in the Laver Cup in Berlin in September—the team tournament where, incidentally, Roger Federer bade farewell to competitive tennis in 2022.
• She is managing a number of chronic issues and doesn’t play a ton of events, but at worst she should remain a constant bracket-buster candidate in any tournament.

We’re serving up the ultimate ranking of the best tennis players of 2024, a list created for fans, by fans. Our criteria for ranking these athletes takes into account this year’s performance on the court, current ATP rankings, consistency, sportsmanship, and popularity among fans globally. This list is intended to celebrate the skill, persistence, and flair of these athletes while also appreciating the transformative effect they have had on the game we love. Medvedev has a single Grand Slam win—in Flushing Meadows in 2021—but he has reached five other major finals, including the 2019 and 2023 U.S.

Both players and their teams boarded the same private plane from Beijing to Shanghai, to prepare for the Masters 1000 event. Alcaraz improved to 6-4 in his career against Sinner after their 10th meeting in what has become tennis’ top rivalry following the 60 matches between Nadal and Djokovic. Novak Djokovic is the most decorated men’s tennis player in history when it comes to Grand Slams, but he will be chasing a career first in Paris. Draws for the five tennis events at the 2024 Olympics were announced on Thursday, July 25, the day before the Opening Ceremony.

The second table is the live rankings; this showcases real-time rankings of a player’s position in the race to finish in the Top 8 for the season-ending ATP and WTA Finals. They are updated frequently each week, and players can jump around spots daily. But starting with his US Open quarterfinal defeat to Shelton, he lost five of seven and dropped his last six sets of the year. Since winning four of five against top-10 opponents in 2021, he’s dropped nine of his last 11 and went 0-3 (with zero sets won) this year.

With the new year right around the corner, 2024 is looking to bring even more drama-filled action to the courts with potential retirement plans for some of the all-time greats. In addition, you’ll catch past winners returning to the game after some time away and the hunt for first grand slam titles, courtesy of hungry, up-and-coming athletes. With all that said, we bet you’re asking yourself who you should be watching out for in 2024. Carlos Alcaraz is leading the charge of the younger generation of professional tennis players. At just 20 years old, the Spaniard has already racked up 12 career titles including two Grand Slams. With lightning-fast court speed, pinpoint accuracy from the baseline and a devious drop shot, Alcaraz has few, if any, weaknesses in his game as one of the most exciting players around.

Do players such as Pegula, Fritz and Tiafoe still have another level to add to their respective games? Sinner’s rollercoaster year took a dip this month when it was revealed he tested positive for a banned steroid in March and had to forfeit the prize money and ranking points he had earned at the Indian Wells tournament. But the International Tennis Integrity Agency found that the low levels in his system were the result of contamination, and Sinner was not forced to miss any time on tour. While he did sit out the Paris Olympics because of tonsillitis and has been hampered by a hip injury, his season has taken him to new heights as well. Off the court, he picked up endorsements with skincare line La Roche-Posay and De Cecco pasta, alongside existing sponsors like Gucci, Lavazza coffee and Rolex.

Djokovic, a familiar name to tennis enthusiasts, continues his legacy as one of the greatest with his superior strategy and unmatched consistency. Meanwhile, Sinner delights fans with his athletic prowess, striking winners from every corner of the court. The story of the summer, Eubanks reached the quarterfinals in Miami, then produced a 14-4 record on grass, winning in Mallorca and beating Stefanos Tsitsipas on the way to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. The self-proclaimed “worst athlete in the family” appeared to be on his own mega-breakthrough in 2023 after dominating Daniil Medvedev on his way to the Australian Open quarterfinals. But a wrist injury there knocked him out for most of four months, and he won only one Slam match the rest of the year. He won 10 of 12 at one point in the fall, however, and his game is the most well rounded of any of the other “young, big-serving American” prototypes.

The World Tennis League on Friday unveiled a star-studded lineup of players, featuring two Olympic gold medallists and five Grand Slam champions for its third season. The protected ranking gives a player a spot in the rankings determined by the player’s average ATP Rankings position during the first three months of his injury. With 2024 NFL training camps on the horizon, the league’s true insiders made their voices heard.

There’s still room for improvement and plenty of time left to improve. After a change to her coaching team, she won summer titles in Washington and Cincinnati, beating Iga Swiatek for the first time. Then she carved through the US Open field, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final.

I think Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia and once you combine that with the weather, it’s unreal. As well as being one of Australia’s leading track athletes, Olympian Peter Bol reveals he is also a massive tennis fan in our Celebrity Match series. The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) has hired “multiple global law firms” to carry out what its chief executive calls “a full, top-to-bottom physical of the entire structure of tennis”. On the women’s side, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff both remained steady threats, but for much of the year, they, too, seemed to be running in place a bit.

But such restrictions could potentially be classed as restraint of trade if a legal challenge were to be launched. Already this season, we have seen proposals for a streamlined “Premium Tour” peter out, while cases of player burn-out proliferate, and matches increasingly extend into the small hours of the morning. Frustration is building within both the men’s and women’s locker rooms. The PTPA’s central point is that the average tennis player remains overworked and underpaid by the standards of global sport. Although the ATP and WTA Tours have staved off the spectre of a LIV-style breakaway, mainly by granting official events to Saudi Arabia, it now seems as though revolution could come from within.