Ranking Reaction: New career-highs for Shapovalov and Gauff

With the new season just getting underway, no points were added to the rankings this week. But with the 2020 season starting a week later on the calendar than the 2019 season, points earned during Week 1 of last season fell off this week, meaning there was a lot of movement on the rankings.

There’s a series of shifts just outside the Top 10 of the ATP rankings this week after Kei Nishikori’s points from winning Brisbane last year dropped off—the Japanese, who has been out since the US Open due to an elbow injury, fell from No. 13 to No. 16, prompting Diego Schwartzman to rise from No. 14 to No. 13, Shapovalov from No. 15 to No. 14 and Stan Wawrinka from No. 16 to No. 15.

Getty Images

For Shapovalov, No. 14 isn’t just a new career-high, it’s one step closer to breaking the Top 10. And with just 315 points to defend in the next two and a half months, that milestone is certainly within reach. Canada's top player’s goals for 2020 are much broader, though. “My goal for 2020 is to keep improving,” he told ATPTour.com. “I just want to keep enjoying myself, and enjoying playing tennis.”

UTR

There were a few more new career-highs on the men’s rankings as Casper Ruud rose from No. 54 to No. 53, Hugo Dellien rose from No. 75 to No. 73 and Salvatore Caruso went from No. 96 to No. 93.

There was some flip-flopping within the Top 10 on the WTA rankings—Simona Halep went from No. 4 to No. 3 and Naomi Osaka from No. 3 to No. 4, while Elina Svitolina went from No. 6 to No. 5 and Bianca Andreescu from No. 5 to No. 6. But there was a slew of new career-highs further down in the Top 100, most notably Gauff, who inched up from No. 68 to a new best of No. 67.

Getty Images

The 15-year-old Gauff is playing her first tournament of the year in Auckland this week and could have her first career meeting with Serena Williams should they both reach the quarterfinals.

There were several more WTA players who set new highs this week, such as Ekaterina Alexandrova, who rose from No. 35 to No. 34; American Jennifer Brady, who rose from No. 55 to No. 53; Anna Blinkova, who went from No. 61 to No. 58; and Jasmine Paolini, who went from No. 96 to No. 94.

UTR

In his last tournament of 2019 at Wimbledon, Anderson was ranked No. 8—but he missed the rest of the season with a knee injury that eventually required surgery, and he finished the year all the way down at No. 91. And now, with his points from winning the title in Pune, India falling off, the South African—a former No. 5—plummets a further 56 spots down the rankings to No. 147.

Getty Images

But Anderson made an impressive return to action at the ATP Cup a few days ago, barely falling to No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic in two tie-breaks in the first match of his comeback, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6). On Monday, he took out Chile's Cristian Garin, dropping just three games in his 6-0, 6-3 victory.

Former Top 20 player Ivo Karlovic also fell out of the Top 100 after his points from Pune dropped off, going from No. 95 to No. 123. The big-serving Croat was a runner-up to Anderson there a year ago.

And two women who had big runs in Week 1 last year also saw their rankings drop: Julia Goerges, who won Auckland a year ago after beating Andreescu in the final, dipped from No. 28 to No. 41; and Lesia Tsurenko, who reached the Brisbane final a year ago, dropped from No. 73 to No. 119.