Ranking Reaction

There are no one-handed backhands in the Top 10 for the first time in ATP rankings history

There was always AT LEAST one in the Top 10 every single week since ATP rankings began in 1973, but not anymore.

Published Feb 19, 2024

Stefanos Tsitsipas to drop out of Top 10 for first time since March 2019

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Today is a historic day, as there are no one-handed backhands in the Top 10 for the first time in ATP rankings history.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was the only man left in the Top 10 with a one-handed backhand last week, has left the elite this week, dipping from No. 10 to No. 11. That was set when Taylor Fritz won his quarterfinal match in Delray Beach on Friday night.

It was still possible that Grigor Dimitrov would save the streak—the No. 13-ranked Bulgarian needed to at least reach the final in Rotterdam to return to the Top 10 on Monday—but he fell to Alex de Minaur in the semifinals of the ATP 500 event on Saturday, meaning he stayed at No. 13, guaranteeing the historic first.

There’d been at least one player with a one-handed backhand in the Top 10 every single week since the ATP rankings began on August 23rd, 1973, but that run has come to an end.

THIS WEEK'S ATP TOP 10 (week of February 19th, 2024):
No. 1: Djokovic [two-handed backhand]
No. 2: Alcaraz [two-handed backhand]
No. 3: Sinner [both two-handed backhand]
No. 4: Medvedev [both two-handed backhand]
No. 5: Rublev [two-handed backhand]
No. 6: Zverev [two-handed backhand]
No. 7: Rune [two-handed backhand]
No. 8: Hurkacz [two-handed backhand]
No. 9: De Minaur [two-handed backhand]
No. 10: Fritz [two-handed backhand]

Tsitsipas was just a few weeks away from celebrating five straight years in the Top 10—he made his debut in the elite in March 2019 and hadn't left since.

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Not only was there a one-hander in the Top 10 all this time, but almost half the time, one of them was No. 1—that was the case in 1,218 of the 2,612 weeks of ATP rankings before this week (47%).

And 11 of the 28 men who’ve reached No. 1 have had that shot, namely Ilie Nastase, John Newcombe, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Thomas Muster, Patrick Rafter, Gustavo Kuerten and, most recently, Roger Federer.

There were as many as four one-handers in the Top 10 as recently as two and a half years ago—during the 2021 US Open, Tsitsipas was No. 3, Dominic Thiem was No. 6, Federer was No. 9 and Denis Shapovalov was No. 10. But by the end of 2021, Tsitsipas was the only one left in there, and he’d been carrying the streak since then.

The break in the streak may not last long, however—neither Tsitsipas nor Dimitrov have many points to defend over the next few months, meaning they could get back inside any week now.

But for this week, even if it’s only this week, it’s the end of an era.

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