On Monday, Both Aryna Sabalenka, the U.S. Open Women’s runner-up, and Men’s Champion Novak Djokovic ascended one place to rank No. 1 in their respective categories. This is a distinguished moment for Sabalenka, marking her first week at the top of the WTA, and a record-breaking 390th week for Djokovic leading the ATP. Concurrently, Women’s Champion Coco Gauff saw her ranking rise to a career-best No. 3 in singles and No. 1 in doubles.
Sabalenka, a 25-year-old Belarusian, is the 29th player to earn the top spot in the women’s list since the inception of computerized rankings in the 1970s. Her New York run ended in a final defeat to Gauff, standing at 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. This allowed her to overtake Iga Swiatek, who slipped to No. 2 after occupying the top spot since April 2022. Swiatek, last year’s champ, had an earlier exit this time around, losing in the fourth round.
In comparison, Gauff, a 19-year-old Floridian, rose from a sixth-place ranking to third in Singles, and she, along with her partner Jessica Pegula, moved up to share the first place in Doubles after reaching the quarterfinals. The previously ranked No. 1 pair, Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova, were defeated in the second round a year after securing the championship.
With these changes, it marks the first time since August 2003 that there has been a simultaneous swap of WTA’s top rankings in both singles and doubles in one day.
Meanwhile, Djokovic, a 36-year-old Serbian, affirmed his dominance by winning his 24th Grand Slam singles title after a 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Daniil Medvedev. This feat aligns him with Margaret Court on the all-time list and grants him sole possession of the most titles of the professional era, now standing one victory ahead of Serena Williams.
With the U.S. Open victory, Djokovic reclaimed the No. 1 spot from Carlos Alcaraz, Flushing Meadows’ 2022 champ who was defeated in the semi-finals by Medvedev. An example of the sport’s fluctuating dynamics, this is the seventh occasion Djokovic and Alcaraz exchanged their rankings in 2023, reminiscent of 1999, when eight such changes occurred.
Other fluctuations in the ATP and WTA rankings were observed. Ben Shelton, a 20-year-old American, broke into the ATP’s top 20 for the first time, skyrocketing from No. 47 to No.19 after his first semi-final at a major tournament. This implies that the United States now has four men in the ATP’s top 20, mimicking the scenario of January 2011.
In the WTA’s ranking, following Gauff and Sabalenka is Elena Rybakina, who retained her No. 4 spot. Pegula follows her, and Wimbledon’s champion, Marketa Vondrousova accrued a career-best No. 6 spot after reaching U.S. Open quarterfinals. Madison Keys, who defeated her then, moved six spots up to No. 11 due to her semi-final run. However, Ons Jabeur, a three-time major finalist, dropped two places to No.9 after her elimination in the fourth round.
