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)
7 – Joakim Nystrom
9 – Arnaud Clement
11 – Scott Davis
12 – Nikola Pilic, Roy Emerson
14 – Ross Case, Pat DuPre
15 – Buster Mottram
17 – Henrik Holm, Chip Hooper
18 – David Pate
19 – Xavier Malisse, Chris Lewis, Christo Van Rensburg
20 – Karl Meiler, Francois Jauffret
The Changes
Guillermo Canas 8, Henri Leconte 5, Bill Scanlon 9, Andrei Pavel 13
That’s a nice list. I enjoy reading stats like that.
One comment is American Robby Ginepri is still active, he played in San Jose last week. He was out injured for almost a year and is almost back in the top 100.
Raonic won only one match in Toronto, but got ‘bye’ in the first round (as the last seeded player) and walkover in the third round. Thanks to that (his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal), he’s advanced as the first Canadian to the Top 20 (24->19).
Andreas Seppi has become the 7th Italian in the Open era to reach the Top 20. I expect Kevin Anderson as the next new face in the Top 20, unfortunately the South African is injured right now and plans his comeback in March (probably Indian Wells will be his first tournament after Australian Open).
Isner loses first round at the Canadian Open this week and drops outside the Top 20 (last year semifinalist in Toronto) – it’s the first time since the ranking inception (1973) there’s no player of the United States in the Top 20!
I like this kind of stats
You forgot some names and something changes
7 – Joakim Nystrom
9 – Arnaud Clement
11 – Scott Davis
12 – Nikola Pilic, Roy Emerson
14 – Ross Case, Pat DuPre
15 – Buster Mottram
17 – Henrik Holm, Chip Hooper
18 – David Pate
19 – Xavier Malisse, Chris Lewis, Christo Van Rensburg
20 – Karl Meiler, Francois Jauffret
The Changes
Guillermo Canas 8, Henri Leconte 5, Bill Scanlon 9, Andrei Pavel 13
Thanks bry17may, I was counting on a post like yours 🙂
But ATP says Clement was highest No. 10
That’s a nice list. I enjoy reading stats like that.
One comment is American Robby Ginepri is still active, he played in San Jose last week. He was out injured for almost a year and is almost back in the top 100.
Thanks Will, corrected, I saw fragments of Ginepri’s match against Ball a couple weeks ago in Dallas.
Isner with today’s win over Djokovic becomes the 31st American Top 10’er.
Monaco has become 11th Argentinian in the Top 10, Granollers 21st Spaniard in the Top 20.
Kohlschbreiber since next Monday 9th German in the Top 20
Raonic won only one match in Toronto, but got ‘bye’ in the first round (as the last seeded player) and walkover in the third round. Thanks to that (his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal), he’s advanced as the first Canadian to the Top 20 (24->19).
The list updated at the end of 2012.
Andreas Seppi has become the 7th Italian in the Open era to reach the Top 20. I expect Kevin Anderson as the next new face in the Top 20, unfortunately the South African is injured right now and plans his comeback in March (probably Indian Wells will be his first tournament after Australian Open).
New Top 20ers in 2013: Seppi (January 28), Janowicz (July 8), Fognini (July 22), Anderson (August 12)
New Top 10ers in 2013: Raonic (August 12)
Isner loses first round at the Canadian Open this week and drops outside the Top 20 (last year semifinalist in Toronto) – it’s the first time since the ranking inception (1973) there’s no player of the United States in the Top 20!
30th different country represented in history of the Top 10 when Milos Raonic advances to the final of the Canadian Open.
When the atptour.com update some results also update the highest rank for Balazs Taroczy he reached #12 😉
Hi,
Just noticed a mistake, Tsonga’s highest ranking is #5.
Thx, corrected… Goffin found his way to the Top 20 in February 2015