ATP Ranking: Cilic leads the rise of the year and Alcaraz approaches the top-2

Carlos Navarro | 25 Sep 2024 | 15.18

Marin Cilic, with the title of champion of Hangzhou. Source: Getty

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Atypical week for the ATP ranking and its updates. The current calendar configuration, which aims to accommodate the new Shanghai Masters 1000 (lasting a week and a half, unlike previous years), causes finals to be played midweek (on Tuesday) and prestigious tournaments like Beijing or Tokyo to start on a Wednesday or Thursday. Thus, position changes and point shifts took place on a Wednesday, confirming the rise of names like Marin Cilic in a week where, indeed, few things happened at the top of the rankings.

Only two players from the top 10 lost points, due to their participation in the ATP Chengdu last year. That's where Alexander Zverev was crowned in 2023, but this week sees him moving away from the number one spot held by Jannik Sinner: not only did he lose 200 points after not defending his title, but he also confirmed that he is suffering from pneumonia, which might keep him out of the upcoming Shanghai Masters 1000. Therefore, the Italian remains at the top for another week, with 11,180 points, leading the German by over four thousand points. Carlos Alcaraz is indirectly nearing that top-2 spot: he is just 185 points behind Sascha, so a result better than his last year's semifinals in Beijing would catapult him back to the second spot on the podium.

TIAFOE RETURNS TO TOP-15 AND CILIC STARS IN THE RISE OF THE YEAR

The only movements in the top 20 come from Frances Tiafoe, who returns to the top 15 of the rankings taking advantage of some points lost by Sebastian Korda, and Lorenzo Musetti, who moves up a spot after reaching the final in Chengdu and earning an extra 75 points. Within the top 30, the most significant drop comes from Karen Khachanov, unable to defend his title in Zhuhai 2023: he loses 250 points and drops four places to #27 in the rankings, dangerously close to the seeding cutoff in a Grand Slam.

However, the major ranking changes come from the big winners of the week. That's the case for Juncheng Shang, claiming his first title at Chengdu and climbing fifteen positions to reach his best historical ranking (#52, just steps away from the top 50). Zhizhen Zhang, the runner-up in Hangzhou, also rises seven spots to the edge of the top 40 (#41)... but the standout rise of the week belongs to Marin Cilic.

What the Croatian achieved this week was absolutely remarkable and, understandably, is reflected in a significant leap in the rankings. His triumph in the Hangzhou tournament, being the lowest-ranked player ever to win a title in the sport's history, guarantees a rise of... 565 positions!, placing him just outside the top 200 (#212). It is almost certainly one of the most significant ranking jumps in the history of this sport. Lastly, the top 100 welcomes a new member to this elite club: Chinese player Bu Yunchaokete, who reached the semifinals in Hangzhou, climbing 28 positions to #96 in the rankings.