Following the conclusion of three different ATP events over the last 7 days, the rankings have undergone quite a transformation. As a quick reminder, these three events that reached a conclusion involved three ATP 250 tournaments. In no particular order, we witnessed an event in Belgium, Sweden, and Italy. And I can tell you now that the results in a couple of these tournaments were rather surprising.
Of course, the all-important ‘Race to Turin’ was also impacted because of these tournament results. But now that these three events have been wrapped up, there are just three others before the End of Year Masters. Over the next two weeks, we shall witness two ATP 500 events as well as the final Masters 1000 event of the calendar year in Paris.
So while this week has produced some interesting ranking changes, the next two weeks could be even more pivotal. Anyway, my goal here is to highlight some of the key information relating to the ATP rankings changes for the week commencing October 24th, 2022. So let me get started.
Week Commencing October 24th – ATP Rankings Changes
As I aim to do every single week regarding ATP rankings updates, I am about to showcase some exciting changes in the rankings following last week’s events. While the 250 events are the lowest of the official ATP tournaments, they are still prestigious enough to cause movement for many players. And on that note, I’d like to begin by talking about adjustments in the ATP’s top ten.
Movement Inside the Top 10 – Auger-Aliassime Climbs to 9th
Interestingly, the top 10 only saw a couple of adjustments in the rankings. When I say a couple, I actually mean that the only changes involve two players in a straight-up swap. Given his success in Antwerp, Auger-Aliassime has climbed for the second week running. He has racked up more points following his victory in Belgium. And because of this, he now has more points than Taylor Fritz, who has now slipped to 10.
This was a simple case of Auger-Aliassime replacing Fritz as number 9, which pushed the American number one down to 10 in the official ATP rankings. Amazingly, there was no movement at all between spots 1-7. So there is nothing else to report at the top end of the table.
The Week’s Biggest Climbers – Majchrzak, Bagnis, and Zhang Surge
To look at the biggest movers inside the top 100 rankings this week, you’ve got to scroll down to the very limits of the top 100. On that note, the official ‘climber of the week’ is Majchrzak. The 26-year-old Polish player managed to win a Challenger event in South Korea last week, earning +125 points in the process and climbing by 22 spots as a result. Following on from this we have a veteran in the form of Facundo Bagnis.
The Argentinian grinder is still going strong at 32 years old. And last week he racked up another Challenger victory in Brazil. This victory takes him up 15 spots to number 99 in the rankings, all thanks to the +69 points. Then last but not least, the man who takes the bronze for ‘climber of the week’ is Zhizhen Cheng. He has improved by 12 spots after making the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event in Naples. This takes him to number 97 in the ATP rankings.
The Week’s Biggest Losers – Karatsev and Brooksby Plummet
Just a few years ago, Aslan Karatsev, the formidable Russian, transformed his career at the Australian Open. After scraping around lower-level tournaments he played the event of his life, and this catapulted him toward the top spots in the world. However, after that season was wrapped up it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride. And last week things got worse for Karatsev as he dropped by 15 places to number 60 in the rankings. Unfortunately, this makes him the week’s biggest loser.
This happened when he lost to Norrie in the round of 16 in Stockholm. However, Karatsev isn’t alone when it comes to rankings misery. Following the Russian, we have one of America’s big prospects in the form of Jenson Brooksy. He lost -102 points last week due to his first-round spanking at the hands of Jack Draper. Because of this, Brooksby has dropped 9 places in the rankings to number 50.
This puts plenty of pressure on the remaining tournaments for the 2022 season for both of these guys. After all, with the rankings that they have dropped to, should they drop a little further, they will then be required to qualify for Grand Slam and possibly Masters events.
Major Rankings Stories – Draper Moves to 45, Qualifies for ‘Next Gen Finals’
Since there is no drastic news relating to any major players as far as rankings changes go, the most intriguing rankings move I’ve seen involves Jack Draper. The young British player has progressed by three spots to number 45 in the world following his round of 16 performance in Belgium last week. As it happens, he had chances to actually take down Hubert Hurkacz in what was a fantastic match. So undoubtedly, Draper is one to keep an eye on moving forward.
Not only that, but in achieving this ranking move, he has two impressive things to add to his resume. Firstly, Draper has now officially qualified for the Next Gen finals – an End of Year Masters event for the younger stars of the tennis world. He follows in the footsteps of guys like Carlos Alcaraz in achieving such a feat. Adding to this, Draper has officially taken over the legendary Andy Murray in the ATP rankings.
Murray has dropped by 3 places compared with a 3 place increase by Jack Draper. With the two guys being so close in the rankings, this means that Draper has moved beyond Murray. In doing so, he becomes the British number 3 if we were to work from rankings alone. And who knows, he might go on to catch both Cam Norrie and Dan Evans in the future.
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