Jessica Pegula kicks off milestone 100th career week in the Top 5 of the WTA rankings
Also, Daniil Medvedev hits 250 career weeks in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings, and Shang Juncheng makes history.
Jessica Pegula has been on fire over the last few months, winning 18 of her last 22 matches, a stretch that has taken her to the third WTA 1000 title of her career in Toronto and the first Grand Slam final of her career at the US Open, among other results.
After the US Open, she bounced back into the Top 5—from No. 6 to No. 3—and this week, she hits a major ranking milestone.
This week is her 100th career week in the Top 5.
She first broke into the elite on September 12th, 2022, after the US Open that year, and she’s now spent 100 of the 110 weeks since then inside the Top 5. And the only times she dipped outside, she barely dipped outside—she spent two weeks at No. 6 in October of 2022, and another eight weeks at No. 6 this past summer.
PEGULA’S STINTS IN THE WTA TOP 5:
~ 3 weeks [September 12th to October 2nd, 2022]
~ 91 weeks [October 17th, 2022 to July 14th, 2024]
~ 6 weeks [September 9th, 2024 to present]
And broken down by ranking, Pegula has spent 43 weeks at No. 5, 17 weeks at No. 4 (including this week) and 40 weeks at No. 3.
Pegula isn’t the only player hitting a ranking milestone this week—it’s also Daniil Medvedev’s 250th career week in the ATP Top 10.
His 250 weeks in that elite have only come in two stints.
Medvedev spent 163 straight weeks in the Top 10 between July 15th, 2019 and January 29th, 2023, then dipped outside for just three weeks before returning to the elite on February 20th, 2023, and this week is his 87th week in there since then.
His first stint doesn’t include the 22 weeks the ATP rankings were frozen due to COVID-19 between March and August of 2020.
The 2021 US Open champion has actually spent the vast majority of his 250 Top 10 weeks inside the Top 5—91%, in fact (228 of 250).
DANIIL MEDVEDEV’S 250 TOP 10 WEEKS BY RANKING:
No. 1: 16 weeks
No. 2: 63 weeks
No. 3: 46 weeks
No. 4: 50 weeks
No. 5: 53 weeks (including this week)
No. 6: 5 weeks
No. 7: 8 weeks
No. 8: 5 weeks
No. 9: 2 weeks
No. 10: 2 weeks
Meanwhile, there are two notable debuts on this week’s ATP rankings: Thomas Machac, who reached the first Masters 1000 semifinal of his career in Shanghai, rises from No. 33 to No. 25, his Top 30 debut; and Shang Juncheng rises from No. 51 to No. 49, his Top 50 debut, after a second-round showing in Shanghai.
Shang, who was born in 2005—and who captured the first ATP title of his career in Chengdu a few weeks ago—is the first man born in 2005 or later to reach the Top 50 in ATP rankings history. Jakub Mensik almost joined him—the big-hitting Czech, who was also born in 2005, rises from No. 65 to a new high of No. 51 today after reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, at the very top of the rankings, Jannik Sinner clinched year-end No. 1 on the ATP rankings for the first time on Saturday just by reaching the final in Shanghai—and then went on to win the title, too. And Iga Swiatek joins some legendary company with her second 50-week stint at No. 1 on the WTA rankings.