ATP Rankings: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal lead reduced list
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This step was taken to distant the upcoming youngsters from the players who will hardly ever more from the entry level of the ITF Tour, allowing them to reach the Challengers main draw easily (from 32, Challenger draw have been extended to 48 places, with a few spots reserved for juniors and the best players from the ITF Rankings).
Thus, we have less than 700 players who have earned at list one ATP point on the ATP Tour, Challengers on the latter stages of the $25,000 Futures who are also offering points in 2019. The opening week of the new season saw three ATP tournaments and three Challengers and we have seen the first changes in the top-20 before more serious shifts after the opening Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne.
was beaten in the semi-final in Doha but he is still the leader of the pack ahead of who was forced to skip Brisbane in order to get ready for Melbourne. is another 1000 points behind Nadal and he will seek title defense at the Australian Open following the record-breaking third Hopman Cup crown in Perth.
The young German stayed fourth but he is in doubt for the Australian Open after suffering a hamstring injury during practice at the World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide, missing the rest of the week and hoping for the best before he takes a trip to Melbourne.
is still recovering from a knee injury that ruled him out from the opening Grand Slam of the year, standing 500 points clear ahead of who won the title in Pune after a great battle with Ivo Karlovic, who is the oldest-ranked player in the world on this reduced ATP list.
was forced to withdraw from Pune with a knee injury and he is just 65 points clear of who is not playing in the opening two weeks of the new year. stayed ninth but he added more points to his tally after winning the title in Brisbane, his first in almost three years, creating a gap to who will try to reduce that this week in Auckland where he is the top seed.
There were no changes in the top-16 and the first player who gained the position is , passing together with while there is no name in the top-20 for the first time since October 2016.
passed the Bulgarian after a solid run in Doha where he almost defeated Novak Djokovic to enter the elite group for the first time in his career. Brisbane quarter-finalist is in the top-30 for the first time, hoping to add more points to his tally in Sydney this week but already securing the place among the seeds in Melbourne.
has dropped out from the top-50 for the first time since February 2015 and the biggest mover in the top-100 is Pune finalist who returns into the top-70. Top 20 ranking:
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