From Dimitrov To Sinner: Challenger Breakthroughs Of The Decade

It happens every year on the ATP Challenger Tour. Players emerge onto the professional scene with breakthrough Challenger campaigns, making immediate statements as they surge up the ATP Rankings. The 2010s were no exception.

All paths to the top are created differently. While it takes some players longer to achieve their goals, others have entered the fray with immediate success. From Top 10 stars Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov launching their careers to open the decade, to the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner most recently crashing the party, fresh faces have burst onto the scene every year.

As the decade draws to a close, we look back on the players that made immediate impressions in the 2010s.

2010 – Grigor Dimitrov
When Dimitrov entered the 2010 season, the highly-touted Bulgarian was already on everyone’s radar. A junior Wimbledon champion just two years earlier, the 18-year-old was embarking on his professional journey with plenty of hype surrounding him. While his ascent would prove to be slow and steady, eventually peaking at World No. 3 after lifting the Nitto ATP Finals trophy in 2017, the start to Dimitrov’s career was anything but. He sprinted to the Challenger winners’ circle early and often.

In his first full season as a pro, Dimitrov vaulted from outside the Top 300 to a year-end position of No. 106 in the ATP Rankings. A total of 30 wins included his maiden Challenger title on the clay of Geneva, followed by back-to-back triumphs in Bangkok a month later. Also a finalist in Orleans, Dimitrov would cap his campaign on a staggering 23-5 run.

Honourable Mention: This technically wasn’t the breakthrough season for Kei Nishikori. That came two years prior when he won his maiden ATP Tour title in Delray Beach as an 18-year-old. But after missing nearly all of 2009 with an elbow injury, the teen was forced to rebuild his ATP Ranking from scratch and prove himself at the Challenger level. He would return with a vengeance, posting a 27-4 record, with titles in Savannah, Sarasota, Binghamton and Knoxville. From outside the Top 800 in March to a Top 100 return by year’s end.

2011 – Cedrik-Marcel Stebe
Stebe will be the first to admit that his professional career has not gone according to plan. The 29-year-old has featured in the Top 100, reached an ATP Tour final and battled the likes of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on the biggest stages. But a long list of injuries and multiple surgeries on his hip, back, pelvis, wrist and forearm tendon had the German recently saying, “I felt like someone has a voodoo doll of myself.”

Before the litany of physical ailments, Stebe captured the attention of the tennis world with a dominant 2011 campaign. A 20-year-old competing in his first full pro season, he would break through with a 42-15 record and a title at the former ATP Challenger Tour Finals. After opening the season with a final appearance in Kyoto, he would also lift the trophies in Bangkok and Shanghai, soaring to year-end No. 81 in the ATP Rankings. And after making his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon as a qualiifer, he stunned Nikolay Davydenko en route his first ATP Tour quarter-final in Stuttgart.

Eight years later, Stebe is on the comeback trail once again, completing a resurgent season that included a first tour-level final in Gstaad.

Honourable Mention: Benoit Paire entered the fray as a 21-year-old, claiming his first Challenger titles in Brasov, Romania and Salzburg, Austria, in 2011. The future World No. 18 and three-time ATP Tour champion would win 37 matches during his breakout season.

2012 – Martin Klizan
Klizan was the Newcomer of the Year in 2012. And for good reason. The Slovakian claimed the honour in the ATP Awards after registering a ruthless Challenger campaign that saw him win 28 of 33 matches played. It included four titles from five finals, prevailing on the clay of Rabat, Marrakech, Bordeaux and San Marino.

The Bratislava native, who would rise to a career-high No. 24 in the ATP Rankings just three years later, was already plotting his ascent on the ATP Tour while dominating the Challenger circuit. He also made a statement at the US Open, storming to the Round of 16 behind an upset of fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And just a few weeks later he lifted his biggest piece of silverware at the St. Petersburg Open. Where most players don’t experience such a rapid, seamless transition from the Challengers, that was the 22-year-old’s reality in 2012. He would soar to No. 30 in the year-end ATP Rankings.

Honourable Mention: The 2012 season was one for the breakthroughs. Andrey Kuznetsov, Guido Pella and Jerzy Janowicz also crashed onto the scene with impressive campaigns. Kuznetsov and Janowicz, whose careers were plagued by injuries, combined for 66 wins and a 7-1 mark in finals in 2012. Poland’s Janowicz memorably streaked to the final at the Rolex Paris Masters to conclude his season.

After five years competing on the ITF circuit and sitting outside the Top 300, Pella made his mark in 2012 with 40 wins in his first season on the Challenger Tour. He would take home the trophy at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals, surging to the year-end Top 100.

2013 – Pablo Carreno Busta
There are no words to describe Carreno Busta’s 2013 season. Any hyperbole would not be sufficient to explain what the Spaniard achieved in his breakthrough season.

At the age of 21, Carreno Busta won a grand total of 92 matches at all levels – ITF, ATP Challenger Tour, ATP Tour and Grand Slams. Yes, NINETY-TWO victories. After opening the season at No. 654 in the ATP Rankings, he transitioned smoothly from the ITF circuit, promptly reaching his first tour-level semi-final as a qualifier at the Estoril Open.

From there, Carreno Busta qualified for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros and proceeded to reel off 33 of 39 matches at the Challenger level. That included three straight titles on home soil in Segovia and Italian territory in Cordenons and Como. He also lifted the trophy in Tanger, Morocco, celebrating a rise of nearly 600 spots to No. 64 in the year-end ATP Rankings.

Did we mention he achieved all that at the age of 21? Four years later, Carreno Busta would crack the Top 10 and feature at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Honourable Mention: Jiri Vesely earned Newcomer of the Year honours behind a 31-win season and three titles from five final appearances. And Bradley Klahn notched a 40-17 Challenger record after completing a storied career at Stanford University.  

2014 – Diego Schwartzman
Wait, where’s Nick Kyrgios in this spot? After all, the Aussie won three Challenger titles in just five tournaments played, before marching to the Wimbledon quarter-finals. We’ll get to Kyrgios soon, but this is Schwartzman’s moment in the spotlight.

Before he became a perrenial Top 20 star, three-time ATP Tour champion and Grand Slam quarter-finalist, the Argentine paid his dues at the Challenger level. Schwartzman spent two seasons on the circuit before finally putting it all together in 2014. A 48-14 record included a whopping seven finals and titles in Aix-en-Provence, Prague, Campinas, on home soil in San Juan and at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals.

Schwartzman rose to No. 61 in the year-end ATP Rankings, continuing his steady progression from unheralded Challenger star to unstoppable force on the ATP Tour.

Honourable Mention: We promised Kyrgios would get his due and here it is. The Aussie went back-to-back on the clay of Sarasota and Savannah and triumphed on the grass of Nottingham, posting a 15-2 record in a two-month span. As quickly as his Challenger career started, it ended. Kyrgios would stun Rafael Nadal en route to the last eight at Wimbledon and reach the third round at the US Open. From outside the Top 200 entering Sarasota to year-end No. 52.

2015 – Hyeon Chung
In previous years, there were rumblings about a Korean teen with incredible potential. As the calendar flipped to 2015, Chung announced his arrival with authority. After capping his 2014 campaign with a maiden crown in Bangkok, he picked up where he left off with a title in Burnie and final run in Launceston in February.

But it was Chung’s sprint to the finish that was the most impressive part of his season. The 18-year-old not only reeled off a 19-1 stretch to conclude his Challenger campaign, but did so with the loss of just four sets. He triumphed on the clay of Savannah and hard courts of Busan and Kaohsiung. One week later, he would surge to his first ATP Tour quarter-final in Shenzhen, en route to year-end No. 51 in the ATP Rankings.

Honourable Mention: Kyle Edmund marched up the ATP Rankings in 2015, storming into the Top 100 behind a 33-win season and titles on three continents – in Hong Kong, Binghamton and Buenos Aires. And we can’t forget about Taylor Fritz’s month of October. In just his second and third Challenger appearances, the 17-year-old claimed his first titles in Sacramento and Fairfield. He saved a combined 47 of 51 break points in doing so, soaring from No. 694 to the year-end Top 200.

2016 – Frances Tiafoe
Nowadays, the 21-year-old Tiafoe has established himself as a Top 50 stalwart, already boasting an ATP Tour title and Grand Slam quarter-final. But many forget that the American had dropped his first five Challenger finals. Every path to the top is created differently and Tiafoe’s was no exception.

After struggling to find his footing in 2015, he put it all together in 2016, compiling an impressive 42-18 record and finally lifting his first trophy in Granby. Another title would follow in Stockton and he would push John Isner to five gripping sets at the US Open. After many years with plenty of hype surrounding him, Tiafoe’s breakthrough had arrived in grand fashion. And a year later, he concluded his Challenger tenure with back-to-back titles on the green clay of Sarasota and red clay of Aix-en-Provence. The Top 50 would soon follow.

Honourable Mention: Jordan Thompson dominated in 2016, posting a 46-17 record to break into the Top 100. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev also cracked the Top 100 after earning his lone Challenger trophy in Saint-Remy, France, part of a 35-win season.

2017 – Denis Shapovalov & Felix Auger-Aliassime
How can you choose between Shapo and Felix here? You can’t go wrong either way. While Felix pulled in record after record, rewriting the Challenger history books with seemingly every tournament, it was his fellow Canadian who instantly became a household name after a stunning single-season ascent.

Having entered the season outside the Top 200, an 18-year-old Shapovalov would complete a dramatic rise to No. 51 in the ATP Rankings. He did not drop a set in claiming his first crown in Drummondville, becoming the first player born in the year 1999 to win a title. And after lifting his second trophy in nearby Gatineau, he introduced himself to the world with a stunning run to the Rogers Cup semis and US Open fourth round, stunning Rafael Nadal along the way. While many players spend years moving up from the Challenger to the ATP level, Shapovalov did it in a matter of months.

The left-hander may have snatched the spotlight, but it was his countryman Auger-Aliassime who etched his name in the record books. It’s hard to believe that the teen was just 14 years old when he became the youngest match winner in Challenger history in 2015. And two years later, the Montreal native became the eighth-youngest champion with his maiden title in Lyon, France. Auger-Aliassime, who vaulted 439 spots to No. 162 in the ATP Rankings in 2017, joined Richard Gasquet, Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt as the youngest players to break into the Top 200 in the past 20 years. The Canadian would add a second title in Sevilla, Spain later in the year.

Honourable Mention: Cameron Norrie and Matteo Berrettini more than tripled their career wins totals in 2017, with the Brit putting together a 32-11 campaign and the Italian registering a 31-14 season. Both players put themselves on the map with their breakout seasons and would be just months from surging into the Top 100.

2018 – Ugo Humbert
To say that Humbert came out of nowhere to break onto the scene in 2018 would be an understatement. Just inside the Top 400 to open the year, the Frenchman was well off the radar as he mixed some Challenger appearances with ITF tournaments in the first half of the season. Then, suddenly, it all clicked for the Metz native as the calendar flipped to July.

Humbert turned in an astonishing five-month stretch to not only soar 300 spots to the year-end Top 100, but nearly qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. Having previously competed in just a handful of Challengers, he would put together the following mid-season run: Gatineau final, Granby final, Segovia title, Cassis final, Orleans second round, Ortisei title. Considering that Humbert had previously won a combined five matches at the level, his run was awe-inspiring.

The Frenchman would also qualify for the US Open and win a round in the main draw, before claiming his first ATP Tour match win in Metz. And he capped his campaign with a third Challenger title of the season in Andria, Italy, solidifying his Top 100 ascent.

Honourable Mention: Reilly Opelka and Cristian Garin were on a mission to finish the 2018 season. The American and the Chilean both lifted three trophies in the final months, with Opelka capping a 17-4 stretch with a Top 100 debut and Garin going back-to-back-to-back in Campinas, Santo Domingo and Lima to break into the year-end Top 100 himself.

2019 – Jannik Sinner
It was a breakthrough unlike any other. The incredible ascent of Jannik Sinner goes down as arguably the biggest storyline on the ATP Challenger Tour this decade. And it came in the final year of the 2010s.

From competing in Tunisia and Kazakhstan on the ITF circuit in January to lifting the trophy at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November, Sinner’s rapid rise was as awe-inspiring as it was shocking. In just the fourth Challenger appearance of his fledgling career, the Italian lifted the trophy on home soil in Bergamo in February. He was outside the Top 500 at the time and only 17 years of age.

Sinner would post a 28-7 record with two more titles in Lexington and Ortisei, becoming the youngest player in the year-end Top 100. The Italian is also the second-youngest to win three titles in a single season in Challenger history, behind only Richard Gasquet.

Honourable Mention: The Nordic NextGen revolution kicked into high gear with Emil Ruusuvuori and Mikael Ymer both registering four titles and finishing in the Top 10 among win percentage leaders. And of all players with at least 30 matches played in 2019, no one had fewer losses than Tommy Paul. He posted a staggering 30-5 record, finally putting it all together after many years competing on the Challenger circuit.