Like every Monday, this February 19, a new update of the ATP ranking was published and
for the first time since its creation on August 23, 1973, there is no tennis player with a one-handed backhand within the Top Ten.
This happens after the good performance in Rotterdam of the Australian
Alex De Minaur,
who reached the final, now enjoys his best historical position (9th) and displaced
Stefanos Tsitsipas
from tenth to eleventh place.
The Greek, who has not played officially since the Australian Open, entered the top ten in the world for the first time on March 4, 2019 and since then he had not stopped being part of that select group, fueling this curious statistic.
However, he has now come out and
breaks a record that stood for more than 50 years.
One of the great people responsible for that mark that is now being cut is
Roger Federer,
owner of the record of 946 weeks as a Top Ten, which is equivalent to just over 18 years.
The Swiss, winner of 20 Grand Slam titles, also spent 734 consecutive weeks in that privileged place between 2002 and 2016. Impressive.
A torn meniscus in his right knee forced him to drop for a short period to 17th place, between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, and at that time the one who took care of the place of setbacks at one hand within the elite was a compatriot of his,
Stan Wawrinka,
current US Open champion at that time.
And the Austrian Dominic Thiem also appeared
.
Tsitsipas and his one-handed backhand leave the Top Ten.
Photo: Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane.
Then Tsitsipas appeared, finalist of two Grand Slams and champion of the Masters Tournament in 2019, but his fall in the ranking is now a reflection that this stroke, so elegant, is seen less and less in tennis.
Without going any further, some of the great legends of this sport such as
Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Guillermo Vilas or Boris Becker
played with a one-handed backhand, which was an important part of tennis at the beginning of the Open Era.
Sinner and the Argentine Díaz Acosta, the protagonists of the week
Jannik Sinner,
winner of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, became champion of the ATP 500 in Rotterdam and remains undefeated in 2024: 12 wins and no losses.
He beat Alex De Minaur 7-5, 6-4 and won the twelfth title of his career at the age of 22.
The Italian, leader along with
Carlos Alcaraz
(20) of the generation of young tennis players who want to take over from the
"Big Three",
appears this Monday in third place in the ranking, the best of his entire career.
He took the place of
Daniil Medvedev,
his "victim" in the final at Melbourne Park and who lost the 500 points he defended for having been champion in Rotterdam last year.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz remains number two despite the points lost in Buenos Aires and
Novak Djokovic remains number one
, thus extending his record as the tennis player with the most weeks at the top of the world rankings.
And if it comes to promotions, the name of the week is that of the Argentine
Facundo Díaz Acosta.
The 23-year-old Argentine, the surprise champion of the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires, jumped from 87th place to 59th and is experiencing the best moment of his career.
He entered the main draw after receiving a
wild card
from the organization and exhibited the best tennis of his career to lift the trophy at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis after beating the Chilean
Nicolás Jarry
6-3 and 6-4 in the final.
The new Top Ten
1st Novak Djokovic
2nd Carlos Alcaraz
3rd Jannik Sinner
4th Daniil Medvedev
5th Andrey Rublev
6th Alexander Zverev
7th Holger Rune
8° Hubert Hurkacz
9° Alex De Minaur
10th Taylor Fritz
Argentines within the Top 100
23rd Francisco Cerúndolo
27° Tomás Martín Etcheverry
30° Sebastian Baez
76° Pedro Cachín
85° Federico Coria