Roger Federer ranks among the top five most famous athletes in the world, according to a new list released by ESPN. The 34-year-old Swiss comes in at No. 5 in the ESPN World Fame 100, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

“Whenever you play, you are worshipped by those who think that watching one of your matches is like seeing Nureyev or Olivier on stage,” writes ESPN, describing why ‘It’s Good To Be’ Federer. “You can wear gold-trimmed white blazers to walk on court and still carry it off. Writers pen love letters to you, saying that seeing you play tennis is like a religious experience. Even your rivals can’t bring themselves to hate you, you’re so darn nice.”

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic rank inside the top 20, at respectively No. 10 and No. 16, while Andy Murray is No. 31 and Kei Nishikori is No. 47. Four WTA players – Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Sania Mirza and Venus Williams – are also on the list, making tennis the fourth-highest represented sport after basketball (20), soccer (17) and American football (16).

The ESPN World Fame 100 is based on a formula created by ESPN’s director of sports analytics Ben Alamar, and combines salary, endorsements, social media following and Google search popularity.

Federer is scheduled to return to the ATP World Tour next week at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, and will compete in Halle the following week as the three-time defending champion at the GERRY WEBER OPEN.

View ESPN World Fame 100 

After making a run back into Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings this year, Albert Montanes is returning to the place where his most recent climb just began.

The Spaniard is competing this week at the $50,000 ATP Challenger in Furth, Germany, where he finished last year as runner-up. Ranked No. 155 at the time, he went on to reach two more ATP Challenger Tour finals over the next month in Padova, Italy and Prague, Czech Republic. Continuing to produce impressive results since then, Montanes is now ranked No. 95.

“Coming back into the Top 100 is always a positive thing,” said Montanes. “Now I can get into the main draw of many ATP World Tour events and also the Grand Slams. I changed my racquets and use Babolat now, which helped a lot with my game.

Montanes opened this year’s campaign in Furth with a first-round win over German wildcard Daniel Masur and then moved into the quarter-finals by defeating another German in Julian Reister. He credited the atmosphere around the grounds at Furth with contributing to his solid form this week.

“I have a good feeling here. The club is nice, the food is good and everything is well organised,” he said. “We have a really good situation this week.”

At age 35, Montanes is now in his 17^th year as a professional. Although many of his peers when he first began competing have long since retired, he said he has no plans to join them anytime soon.

“I love this sport. I’m still feeling good and I can compete with the top players and the young guns,” said Montanes. “Most importantly, I’m still having fun on the court and that motivates me to keep going. I want to try and stay in the Top 100 for the rest of my career.”

After more than a decade on tour, Malek Jaziri is in the best form of his career and continuing to break ground for tennis in Tunisia.

The 32-year-old opened this year with a combined 1-7 record at ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events, but has dramatically turned his season around since then. He prevailed this March at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Guadalajara, Mexico, then won another $100,000 tournament in April in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe. Jaziri achieved a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking that same month of No. 64.

He’s now the top seed this week at the $50,000 ATP Challenger event in Furth, Germany. Jaziri opened his quest for a third ATP Challenger Tour title this year by defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in the opening round.

“My best results in Challengers this year have been on hard courts, but I’ve had good results on clay as well,” said Jaziri. “Furth is a good tournament for me because they treat the players very well here. I hope to do well this week.”

Jaziri has remained the top-ranked tennis player in Tunisia for eight years and has been a fixture on its Davis Cup team since 2000. He said that being the only Tunisian to currently compete on either the ATP World Tour or ATP Challenger Tour has given him extra motivation to produce big results.

“I’m proud to play for Tunisia and be the top player in my country,” he said. “It’s an honour for me and also a result of very hard work on and off the court.”

Despite having his best year on tour so far, Jaziri still has much loftier aspirations that he’s still continuing to work towards.

“My goal is to be ranked in the Top 10,” he said. “And why not? I want to win a Grand Slam as well.”

Dustin Brown is racking the up Hot Shots in 2016. After his stunning behind-the-back volley winner this February at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Bergamo, the German followed it up on Wednesday with a tweener winner in his opening around against No. 2 seed Rajeev Ram at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Manchester.

With Ram serving at 2/2 in the second-set tie-break, the American approached the net with a low-bouncing slice backhand. Brown was forced to react and flicked a forehand between his legs for a passing shot winner, raising his arms in celebration.

“A lot of it (the entertainment) is how I am and how I learned to play tennis. It’s intuition and when the balls go in, everyone’s happy. I was on the wrong side of the court, so I ran and in my head I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ said Brown. “If I make it, everyone says ‘Great.’ If I hit the house behind the court, everyone says ‘What an idiot, how can he do that at 2/2 in the tie-break?’ The most important thing I’ve learned over the years is to come to terms with my tennis and how I can be dangerous, especially with these surfaces.”

Rewind: Watch Brown Hit Behind-The-Back Hot Shot In Bergamo

Brown went on to score the upset over Ram, 7-6(3), 7-6(3). He next plays fellow German Mischa Zverev in a second-round match on Thursday.

Two Top 10 veterans and a pair of rising ATP stars will play for the final spots in the Roland Garros semi-finals on Thursday.

The 26^th meeting between Novak Djokovic against Tomas Berdych is the first scheduled match on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The World No. 1 leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 23-2 and has won their past 10 meetings. But Berdych’s last win did come on clay (Rome 2013) and the Czech has won at least a set against Djokovic the three times they’ve played on the red dirt.

Djokovic, who has won every Grand Slam except Roland Garros, will be trying to reach his 30^th Grand Slam semi-final, including his sixth consecutive in Paris. Berdych, meanwhile, has reached the last four at Roland Garros once before, in 2010.

A trip to the semi-finals and entry into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings will be on the line when David Goffin and Dominic Thiem meet. Their quarter-final match is the first scheduled contest on Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Goffin, the 12^th seed, has won four of their six FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. On clay, they’re even 1-1. But Thiem, the 13^th seed, won their most recent contest on clay, a 7-5, 6-2 victory last year in the Gstaad final.

Whoever wins will crack the Top 10 for the first time and could rise as high as No. 7 on Monday if Berdych falls to Djokovic. The loser of the Goffin-Thiem match will still rise to a career-best No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Stan Wawrinka, the defending Roland Garros champion, powered to a 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(7) over unseeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas in quarter-final action on Wednesday. The 2015 champion is on track to defend his Roland Garros crown and will face Andy Murray in his next match.

“I didn’t want to give [Ramos-Vinolas] anything to use against me, so I hit the ball heavy. Then I was able to get into the court and vary the pace,” Wawrinka said. “In general, I quite like the conditions here in Paris. I am still able to hit through the ball and make some winners.”

Murray leads 8-7 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Wawrinka and is into his fourth semi-final at Roland Garros. The 31-year-old Wawrinka has reached the semi-finals in four of his past six Grand Slams. Both players are seeking to capture their third Grand Slam title.

“Well, we haven’t played that much in the past few years,” Wawrinka noted. “[Murray]’s improved a lot on clay. He’s playing so well, especially if you look at this year. He won Rome, made the final in Madrid and made the semi-finals in Monaco.

“So it’s going to be an interesting match. We’ve had good battles in the past, so I’m quite happy to play him. I think it’s going to be a great challenge.”

Wawrinka started the match in imperious form. He saved two break points in the opening game of the match and raced to a 3-0 lead, before he secured another service break to end the set. The Swiss struck three aces and won six of seven points when approaching the net and overwhelmed Ramos-Vinolas with power, hitting 17 winners in the opener. He would finish the match with 49 winners to Ramos-Vinolas’ 10.

Ramos-Vinolas was coming off an upset win over No. 8 seed Milos Raonic in his previous match, but was unable to find solutions against Wawrinka in the first 90 minutes of play. The Spanish left-hander, who was contesting his first Grand Slam quarter-final, fell behind by two sets and a break before making a late charge and forcing a third-set tie-break.

The Spaniard’s bid to extend the encounter was helped by a flurry of uncharacteristic misfires from his opponent. Wawrinka made 43 unforced errors during the match, with more than half (24) coming in the third set.

Faced with the unattractive prospect of a fourth set, Wawrinka dug himself out of trouble with well-placed first serves and sensible shot selection. He saved a set point at 7/6 in the third-set tie-break by winning a long rally, then swept the next two points to advance.

“Frankly, I’m not very happy. I could have done better during the first two sets. It took me time to react [to Wawrinka’s level],” Ramos-Vinolas said. “I hope that later on I’ll be quite satisfied with what I’ve done during this tournament, and that I’ll play even better in the future. [This run] gives me reasons to work, to move forward, and to improve my game.”

Fifth seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan saw off Marcin Matkowski and Leander Paes 7-6(12), 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals of Roland Garros on Wednesday. The 2015 finalists, who saved five set points in a long first-set tie-break, are still on track to capture a third title at the second Grand Slam event of the season (2003, 2013).

In the next round, the Bryans will face the winner of the quarter-final clash pitting Lukasz Kubot/Alexander Peya against Pablo Cuevas/Marcel Granollers. Cuevas won the 2008 Roland Garros doubles title alongside Luis Horna, while Granollers was runner-up in 2014 (w/ M. Lopez).

Defending champions Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, who defeated the Bryans for the title 12 months ago, are also into the semi-finals after defeating Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea 6-4, 6-4. They will either take on 15^th seeds Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez, who upset top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 7-6(7), 6-1 on Wednesday, or 2014 champions Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Julien Benneteau.

Ninth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the first set to lead second seed Andy Murray 7-5 on Wednesday in their Roland Garros quarter-final. Gasquet is appearing in his first last-eight match on Parisian clay.

Murray capitalised on the lack of French supporters on Court Philippe Chatrier in the early stages of his 11th meeting with Gasquet by taking a 3-0 lead. Gasquet looked pensive, but began a remarkable comeback – underpinned by fluent groundstroke winners – from a 2-5 deficit. Murray lost his serve in the ninth and 11th games as Gasquet took a 6-5 lead. Under the gaze of Rod Laver, the 1962 and 1969 Grand Slam champion, Murray kept his emotions in check. Serving at 6-5, Gasquet saved three break points and finally clinched the 66-minute opener on his fourth set point opportunity.

Murray, who is attempting to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals for a fourth time, leads Gasquet 7-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.