Daniil Medvedev built a game that looks like nobody else's. He returns from six metres behind the baseline, lets the ball die on his flat, long groundstrokes, and turns a rally into a war of patience until the other man blinks. It is deep-court defence dressed up as attrition, and for one September night in New York it broke the best of all. In the 2021 US Open final he beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets, denying Djokovic the first calendar Grand Slam in men's tennis since 1969 and taking his 1 major.
The rise did not stop there. On 28 February 2022 he reached world No. 1, and he holds the 2020 ATP Finals crown among 24 career titles. He also owns a hard-luck ledger: four more Grand Slam finals lost, at the Australian Open in 2021, 2022 and 2024 and the US Open again in 2023, the last two of those slipping away after he had led by two sets, one to Jannik Sinner. Russian by birth, he competes as a neutral athlete, without flag or anthem.
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