ATP Rankings Update: Who made moves? (30th July 2018)

(Photo credit: Frederic de Villamil)

Mover of the Week

Though it was a great week for a number of players on the ATP Tour, RealSport’s Mover of the Week title could still only go to Hamburg champion Nikoloz Basilashvili. The Georgian played some superb tennis in Germany to come through the qualifying and win the title, beating some fine players along the way. His victims in Hamburg included German #2 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round, Pablo Cuevas in the second and third seed Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals.

He saved his best tennis, however, for the final where he took on defending champion Leonardo Mayer, who had also lifted the German Open title in 2014. After an electric start which saw him break immediately, Basilashvili held on to claim the first set. Mayer fought back when Basilashvili’s level dipped, and he lost the second set to love. But he came again, and broke deep into the decider before holding serve to claim the biggest win of his career.

He was rewarded with a significant move up the rankings, rising 46 places to a career-high ranking of 35th in the world. Whilst clay courts are Basilashvili’s favoured surface, he has shown throughout his career that he can do damage on hard courts as well. If he can carry this good form forward into the North American hard court swing, he could well find himself amongst the seeds at the US Open, which would be the first time he’s had that protection at a Slam.

Loser of the Week

As one champion is crowned, another must be dethroned and that was the case for Leonardo Mayer in Hamburg, who lost just his third match at the German Open. After claiming the title last year by defeating German veteran Florian Mayer in the final, Mayer looked to be putting together another fine run. He began his campaign with comprehensive wins over Albert Ramos Vinolas and Gael Monfils, before battling past Diego Schwartzman and Jan Kovalik to reach the final.

But there he could not get the job done against Basilashvili, missing a makeable backhand when he had a break-back point with the Georgian serving for the match. The rankings fall is less severe than it would have been had he lost earlier in the tournament, but it will still be a blow to see his ranking fall outside of the top 50 to world #51. Mayer is not in bad form, but he will be aware of the importance of getting his ranking moving back in the right direction.

Honourable Mentions

Another first-time winner on the Tour this week was Matteo Berrettini of Italy who beat three seeds, including Roberto Bautista Agut in the final, to lift the title in Gstaad. His performances all week were excellent, where he won all five of his matches in straight sets without dropping serve. He’s certainly one to watch going forward and climbs 30 places in the rankings as a result, reaching a new career-high of world #54.

Chile’s Nicolas Jarry continued his fine season with another deep run at an ATP 500, this time reaching the semifinals in Hamburg. He scored some excellent wins along the way, most notably against top seed and French Open finalist Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals, who he beat 7-6 7-6 after twice rallying from significant deficits in the tiebreak. Basilashvili proved too strong in the semifinals, winning 7-5 0-6 6-1, but Jarry reaches a new career-high of world #53 as a result.

1. Rafael Nadal, (Esp), 9310 points, no change
2. Roger Federer (Swi), 7080 points, no change
3. Alexander Zverev (Ger), 5665 points, no change
4. Juan Martin del Potro (Arg), 5395 points, no change
5. Kevin Anderson (SA), 4655 points, no change
6. Grigor Dimitrov (Bul), 4610 points, no change
7. Marin Cilic (Cro), 3905 points, no change
8. Dominic Thiem (Aut), 3665 points, no change
9. John Isner (US), 3490 points, no change
10. Novak Djokovic (Ser), 3355 points, no change
11. David Goffin (Bel), 3120 points, no change
12. Diego Schwartzman (Arg), 2470 points, no change
13. Pablo Carreno Busta (Esp), 2290 points, no change
14. Jack Sock (US), 2030 points, moves up one place
15. Fabio Fognini (Ita), 2030 points, drops down one place
16. Roberto Bautista Agut (Esp), 2000 points, moves up one place
17. Nick Kyrgios (Aus), 1980 points, moves up one place
18. Kyle Edmund (GB), 1950 points, drops down two places
19. Lucas Pouille (Fra), 1835 points, no change
20. Kei Nishikori (Jpn), 1800 points, no change

Who was your Mover of the Week? Let us know in the comments below!