Djokovic Sets Record, 3 Debutants in Top 10 Year-End FedEx ATP Rankings

  • Posted: Nov 22, 2021

The ATP Tour today published the 2021 year-end FedEx ATP Rankings on ATPTour.com with Novak Djokovic headlining a season of breakthroughs and milestones.

Djokovic earned a record seventh year-end No. 1 finish, breaking a tie with Pete Sampras for the most in history. Rafael Nadal finished in the Top 10 for a record 17th consecutive year at No. 6, breaking the record he shared with Jimmy Connors.

Daniil Medvedev became the first player outside Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Nadal to finish year-end No. 2 since Andy Roddick in 2004. He also became the first Russian to finish No. 2 since Marat Safin in 2000.

There were three new faces in the Top 10: No. 8 Casper Ruud (22), No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz (24) and No. 10 Jannik Sinner (20), the youngest to finish in the Top 10 since No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro (20) in 2008.

There were eight players aged 25-and-under in the year-end Top 10 for the first time since 1995. Four of the Top 5 players were 25-and-under, the first year-end occurrence since 2009.

The average age of the Top 10 was less than 26 years old (at 25.6), the youngest since 2009 (25.0).

The Top 10 of 2021
1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) – Oldest year-end No. 1 at 34, record seventh time at year-end No. 1 and most overall weeks at No. 1 with 348. Back-to-back years at No. 1 for third time (2011-12, 2014-15, 2020-21).
2. Daniil Medvedev (RUS) – Third straight year-end Top 10 finish and first Russian to finish in Top 2 since No. 2 Marat Safin in 2000, third overall (No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1999).
3. Alexander Zverev (GER) – First German to finish in Top 3 since No. 3 Boris Becker in 1994. Also fifth straight Top 10 season, most since Becker finished in elite group in eight straight years from 1985-92.
4. Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) – Greek native finishes in Top 10 for the third straight season with year-end best ranking (was No. 6 in 2019-20).
5. Andrey Rublev (RUS) – Finishes in Top 10 for second straight year. This is the second consecutive year with two Russians in Top 10 and first in year-end Top 5 since 2000 (Kafelnikov, Safin).
6. Rafael Nadal (ESP) – Oldest in year-end Top 10 at 35 and finishes a record 17th straight year in the Top 10. He has the second-most Top 10 year-end finishes in history (behind Federer with 18).
7. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) – First Italian to finish in the year-end Top 10 three times. It is the first time two Italians are in the year-end Top 10 in history of the FedEx ATP Rankings (since 1973).
8. Casper Ruud (NOR) – First Norwegian to finish in Top 10 in history of FedEx ATP Rankings after climbing from No. 27 last season.
9. Hubert Hurkacz (POL) – First Pole to finish in Top 10 in history of the FedEx ATP Rankings. The World No. 9 made second-biggest jump into the Top 10 from last year (No. 34).
10. Jannik Sinner (ITA) – Youngest player (20) to finish in the Top 10 since World No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro (20) in 2008. The Italian made biggest jump into Top 10 from 2020 (No. 37).

View Full 2021 Year-End FedEx ATP Rankings

2021 Year-End FedEx ATP Rankings Quick Facts

– There were no changes at No. 1 during the season for the first time since 2015, the only other time Djokovic held the top spot without any interruptions in the year.

– The United States led all countries with 12 players in the Top 100 (most since 1996), followed by Spain with 10, France with 9, Italy with eight and Argentina with 7. It was the third straight year eight Italians were in the year-end Top 100. Spain and the U.S. had the most players in the Top 50 with six followed by Italy with four. The six Americans in the year-end Top 50 was the most since seven in 2003.

– Roger Federer, 40, finished as the oldest player in the Top 100 at No. 16. It was the Swiss superstar’s record 21st consecutive year in the Top 20. There were 31 players 30 and older in the year-end Top 100.

– There were three Russians in the year-end Top 20 for the second straight year with No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, No. 5 Andrey Rublev and No. 18 Aslan Karatsev, who jumped from No. 112 last year.

– No. 23 Taylor Fritz finished as the top American for the first time while No. 24 John Isner finished in the Top 25 for the 12th straight year. No. 26 Reilly Opelka gave the Americans three players in the year-end Top 30 for the first time since 2017.

– There were 14 players 25 and younger in the year-end Top 30 for the second season in a row.

– Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals champion Carlos Alcaraz made the biggest jump in the Top 50, climbing 109 positions from No. 141 to No. 32. The 18-year-old Spaniard is the youngest player in the Top 100 and the top player in the year-end rankings at his age since 18-year-old Andrei Medvedev was No. 24 in 1992. Alcaraz was one of 10 first-time winners on the ATP Tour this season.

– #NextGenATP players Juan Manuel Cerundolo, 20, and Jenson Brooksby, 21, made the biggest jumps into the Top 100 from last year. Cerundolo climbed 252 spots from No. 341 to No. 89 and Brooksby improved 251 spots from No. 307 to No. 56. There were 10 #NextGenATP players (21 & under) in the Top 100 of the year-end FedEx ATP Rankings.

– Overall there are 34 countries represented in the year-end Top 100 of the FedEx ATP Rankings.

– Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic finished No. 1 in the year-end FedEx ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Pavic finished No. 1 last year (w/Soares) and in 2018 (w/Oliver Marach).

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