NADAL & FEDERER BACK AT #1 AND #2 IN ATP RANKINGS
Look at the calendar. It's 2017, but look at the ATP rankings. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are at the top of the rankings again, although this time it is Nadal at #1 and Federer at #2. Federer was briefly at #2 last year in May 2016 but the two have not been in this particular position since 2009. Nadal and Federer have played the fewest tournaments of any player in the Top 10, but they have the most points, since both have won 2 majors and 2 Masters shields this year. Novak Djokovic is out of the Top 5 for the first time since 2007! 2017 U.S. Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta makes his debut in the Top 10 at #10.
SPANISH PLAYERS LEAD ATP (NADAL) AND WTA (MUGURUZA) RANKINGS
With Nadal at the top of the ATP rankings and Garbine Muguruza the new #1 on the WTA tour (thanks to Karolina Pliskova failing to repeat her U.S. Open final appearance in 2017) Spain has the top players in the world. The last country to do this was the United States, way back in 2003, when Andre Agassi and Serena Williams were #1 simultaneously. Muguruza is the 24th woman to head the WTA rankings since they began in the mid 1970s.
STEPHENS BECOMES SECOND UNSEEDED PLAYER IN 2017 TO WIN MAJOR
Following in the footsteps of Jelena Ostapenko at the 2017 French Open, Sloane Stephens became the second unseeded player to win a major tournament in 2017 when she beat Madison Keys in the U.S. Open final. Stephens will move up to #17 (up from 957 at the beginning of the year) while Keys is at #12. Venus Williams is at #5, while Serena Williams is down to #2.
FELIX JOINS ELITE GROUP OF YOUNG PHENOMS TO REACH TOP 200 BEFORE 18
17-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime, who shares a birthday with Roger Federer (19 years later) has made history by wining his second ATP challenger title and rising to #168 in the rankings. Only rafael Nadal, Rihcard Gasquet and JuanMartin del Potro have achieved a similar feat. That's a nice list to be on. Canada now has two teenage phenoms to be proud of, Felix and Denis Shapovalov, who beat Nadal earlier this summer and reaches the 3rd round of the U.S. Open after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN CORI GAUFF REACHES U.S. OPEN GIRLS FINAL AT AGE 13!
In other phenomenal Black youth tennis news, American Cori ('CoCo") Gauff reached the U.S. Open girls final at age 13, where she lost to another American, Amanda Anisimova. The future (of American tennis) is so bright, we gotta wear shades!
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