Alejandro Davidovich Fokina plays tennis at full tilt: diving volleys, drop shots, underarm serves, the occasional implosion. Born in Malaga to a Russian mother and a Swedish-Russian father who boxed professionally, he announced himself at Monte-Carlo in 2022, beating world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on the way to the final. The run confirmed a talent that could trouble anyone, and it also set the pattern: the trophy went to someone else. He climbed to a career-high No. 14 in November 2025.
For a while he was tennis's great almost. Four finals in 2025 all ended in defeat, none crueler than Washington, where he held three championship points before Alex de Minaur escaped with a lob that clipped the sideline. Then in June 2026, in his sixth final, the wait ended: on home grass in Mallorca he beat Ethan Quinn 7-6(4), 6-3 for his first title, the tournament's first home champion. At 27 the shotmaker finally had silverware to match the highlight reel.
Thirty. That is how many places Luca Van Assche gained after winning the Estoril title, from No. 78 to a career-best No. 48 in the ATP rankings. He was one of two Frenchmen with a tour-level title this week: Quentin Halys won Kitzbuhel and rose 31 places to No. 52. Neither result stirred the top of the list, where Jannik Sinner stayed unmoved at No. 1.
Ranking taleSeventy-eight. That is how many places Arthur Fery climbed in the ATP rankings this week, from 114 to 36, and every one of them came out of a single fortnight at Wimbledon. Above him the other big move was a return: Alexander Zverev, who beat Fery in the semi-final and lost the final, is back at No. 2, the highest he has ever been ranked.
Ranking tale