Ranking by countries: Top 20 in years 1973-2016

Because of last week’s USA’s stunning victory in the Davis Cup first round (over Switzerland), I thought that I’d prepare a stats considering the best players in the Open era by countries reminding the American force in the historical context. Therefore, below you can check out, hopefully, all Top 20 players since the ranking inception in 1973 with their highest position. I think there’s something special in advancing to the Top 20 because appearing there, actually guarantees to a player being seeded in every tournament he enters. Obviously the United States of America have produced the most Nos. 1 as well as the most Top 10’ers and players who advanced to the Top 20 (53 guys altogether; second Spain “barely” 20). Although North America suffers a decline in the recent years, there are still three Americans in the Top 20 this week. A bit surprising is lack of a Canadian player in the Top 20 in course of the Open era, but Milos Raonic should change it this season, just like Kei Nishikori a couple weeks ago as he became the first Japanese in the Top 20.

In the photo taken in 1992 (before tie USA vs. Sweden), arguably the strongest Davis Cup team in the Open era: four best players in the world, from left: No. 1 at the time Jim Courier, former No. 1 John McEnroe, future Nos. 1 Andre Agassi & Pete Sampras, and Tom Gorman as a team captain, former No. 10.

Update: the end of 2016

ARGENTINA: 2 – Guillermo Vilas; 3 – Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian; 4 – Jose-Luis Clerc, Juan Martin del Potro; 5 – Gaston Gaudio; 8 – Alberto Mancini, Guillermo Canas; 9 – Mariano Puerta; 10 – Martin Jaite, Juan Monaco; 11 – Franco Squillari; 13 – Guillermo Perez-Roldan; 15 – Juan Ignacio Chela; 16 – Agustin Calleri; 20 – Jose Acasuso
AUSTRALIA: 1 – John Newcombe, Patrick Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt; 2 – Ken Rosewall; 3 – Rod Laver; 4 – Pat Cash; 7 – Paul McNamara; 8 – Tony Roche, John Alexander, Mark Philippoussis; 12 – Roy Emerson;  13 – Nick Kyrgios; 14 – Ross Case; 15 – Kim Warwick, Mark Edmondson, Wally Masur; 17 – Phil Dent, Bernard Tomic; 19 – Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, Jason Stoltenberg
AUSTRIA: 1 – Thomas Muster; 7 – Dominic Thiem; 8 – Jurgen Melzer; 17 – Gilbert Schaller; 18 – Horst Skoff; 20 – Stefan Koubek
BELARUS: 18 – Max Mirnyi
BELGIUM: 11 – David Goffin, 19 – Xavier Malisse
BRAZIL: 1 – Gustavo Kuerten
BULGARIA: 8 – Grigor Dimitrov
CANADA: 4 – Milos Raonic
CHILE: 1 – Marcelo Rios; 5 – Fernando Gonzalez; 9 – Nicolas Massu; 12 – Hans Gildemeister, 14 – Jaime Fillol
CROATIA: 2 – Goran Ivanisevic; 3 – Ivan Ljubicic; 7 – Mario Ancic; 8 – Marin Cilic; 12 – Niki Pilic; 14 – Ivo Karlovic; 16 – Goran Prpic
CYPRUS: 8 – Marcos Baghdatis
CZECH REPUBLIK: 1 – Ivan Lendl; 2 – Petr Korda; 5 – Jan Kodes, Jiri Novak, Tomas Berdych; 8 – Karel Novacek, Radek Stepanek; 11 – Tomas Smid
ECUADOR: 4 – Andres Gomez; 6 – Nicolas Lapentti
FINLAND: 13 – Jarkko Nieminen
FRANCE: 3 – Yannick Noah; 4 – Guy Forget, Sebastien Grosjean; 5 – Cedric Pioline, Henri Leconte, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; 6 – Gilles Simon; 7 – Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet; 10 – Thierry Tulasne, Arnaud Clement; 12 – Arnaud Boetsch, Paul-Henri Mathieu;  15 – Lucas Pouille, 17 – Nicolas Escude, Fabrice Santoro; 19 – Benoit Paire; 20 – Francois Jauffret
GERMANY: 1 – Boris Becker; 2 – Michael Stich, Tommy Haas; 4 – Nicolas Kiefer; 5 – Rainer Schuettler; 14 – Carl-Uwe Steeb; 16 – Philipp Kohlschreiber; 18 – Florian Mayer; 20 – Karl Meiler
GREAT BRITAIN: 2 – Andy Murray; 4 – Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski; 11 – Roger Taylor; 13 – Mark Cox; 15 – Buster Mottram
HUNGARY: 12 – Balazs Taroczy
INDIA: 16 – Vijay Amritraj
ISRAEL: 18 – Amos Mansdorf
ITALY: 4 – Adriano Panatta; 7 – Corrado Barazzutti; 12 – Paolo Bertolucci; 13 – Fabio Fognini; 18 – Omar Camporese, Andrea Gaudenzi, Andreas Seppi; 19 – Renzo Furlan
JAPAN: 4 – Kei Nishikori
LATVIA: 10 – Ernests Gulbis
MEXICO: 4 – Raul Ramirez
MOROCCO: 14 – Younes El Aynaoui
NETHERLANDS: 3 – Tom Okker; 4 – Richard Krajicek; 11 – Sjeng Schalken; 14 – Jan Siemerink, Martin Verkerk; 18 – Paul Haarhuis; 19 – Jacco Eltingh
NEW ZEALAND: 19 – Onny Parun, Chris Lewis
PARAGUAY: 9 – Victor Pecci
PERU: 18 – Jaime Yzaga
POLAND: 10 – Wojtek Fibak, 14 – Jerzy Janowicz
ROMANIA: 1 – Ilie Nastase; 13 – Andrei Pavel
RUSSIA: 1 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin; 3 – Nikolay Davydenko; 8 – Mikhail Youzhny; 9 – Alex Metreveli, Andrei Chesnokov; 13 – Andrei Cherkasov; 14 – Alexander Volkov; 18 – Igor Andreev; 20 – Dmitry Tursunov
SERBIA: 1 – Novak Djokovic; 8 – Janko Tipsarevic; 12 – Viktor Troicki; 19 – Slobodan Zivojinovic
SLOVAKIA: 4 – Miloslav Mecir, 6 – Karol Kucera, 12 – Dominik Hrbaty
SOUTH AFRICA: 5 – Kevin Curren; 6 – Wayne Ferreira; 7 – Johan Kriek; 12 – Kevin Anderson; 13 – Cliff Drysdale;  19 – Christo van Rensburg
SPAIN: 1 – Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Rafael Nadal; 2 – Manuel Orantes, Alex Corretja; 3 – Sergi Bruguera, David Ferrer; 5 – Tommy Robredo; 6 – Jose Higueras, Albert Costa; 7 – Juan Aguilera, Emilio Sanchez, Alberto Berasategui, Fernando Verdasco; 9 – Nicolas Almagro; 10 – Carlos Costa, Felix Mantilla; 13 – Roberto Bautista; 14 – Feliciano Lopez; 18 – Francisco Clavet; 19 – Albert Portas, Marcel Granollers
SWEDEN: 1 – Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg; 2 – Magnus Norman; 4 – Thomas Enqvist, Jonas Bjorkman, Robin Soderling; 5 – Anders Jarryd; 6 – Kent Carlsson, Henrik Sundstrom; 7 – Joakim Nystrom, Thomas Johansson; 9 – Joachim Johansson; 10 – Jonas Svensson, Mikael Pernfors, Magnus Gustafsson, Magnus Larsson; 17 – Henrik Holm
SWITZERLAND: 1 – Roger Federer; 3 – Stan Wawrinka; 7 – Jakob Hlasek; 9 – Marc Rosset
THAILAND: 9 – Paradorn Srichaphan
UKRAINE: 4 – Andrei Medvedev; 13 – Alexandr Dolgopolov
URUGUAY: 19 – Pablo Cuevas
USA: 1 – John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick; 2 – Arthur Ashe, Michael Chang; 3 – Brian Gottfried, Stan Smith, Vitas Gerulaitis; 4 – Roscoe Tanner, Gene Mayer, Brad Gilbert, Todd Martin, James Blake; 5 – Eddie Dibbs, Harold Solomon, Jimmy Arias; 6 – Eliot Teltscher, Aaron Krickstein; 7 – Sandy Mayer, Brian Teacher, Jay Berger, Tim Mayotte, Mardy Fish; 8 – Dick Stockton, Peter Fleming; 9 – Bill Scanlon, John Isner; 10 – Tom Gorman; 11 – Marty Riessen, Scott Davis, MaliVai Washington; 12 – Steve Denton, Paul Annacone, David Wheaton; 13 – Derrick Rostagno; 14 – Pat DuPre, John Sadri, Jan-Michael Gambill; 15 – Victor Amaya, Robert Lutz, Tim Gullikson, Robby Ginepri; 16 – Cliff Richey; 17 – Chip Hooper, Sam Querrey; 18 – David Pate, Vincent Spadea; 19 – Hank Pfister; 20 – Jeff Borowiak & Richey Reneberg

Top 20 players to never win a tournament: Henrik Holm, Steve Denton, Chip Hooper
Top 20 player to never reach 3rd round at majors: Horst Skoff
Grand Slam finalist who never was a Top 20 player: John Marks (Australian Open)
Grand Slam semifinalists, never Top 20 players: Bob Giltinan, Colin Dibley, Paul McNamee, Ben Testerman, Jan Gunnarsson, Patrick McEnroe (Australian Open); Christophe Roger-Vasselin, Filip Dewulf, Fernando Meligeni (Roland Garros), Rod Frawley, Vladimir Voltchkov (Wimbledon), Darren Cahill (US Open)

Pictorial displaying many of these players in terms of their game-styles