Ranking Reaction: Frances Tiafoe cracks Top 10, first time two American men in Top 10 since 2012

Frances Tiafoe has broken into the Top 10, rising from No. 12 to No. 10 today after winning the grass-court event in Stuttgart, Germany.

It was his third career ATP title, all on different surfaces—he won Delray Beach on hard courts in 2018 and Houston on clay earlier this year.

“I have now won a title on all three surfaces,” he told ATPTour.com after capturing the Stuttgart title on Sunday. “It shows I am a complete player and when I am locked in, I can compete on all three surfaces.”

Only three other men in the Top 10 have won an ATP title on all three surfaces: Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

With Taylor Fritz currently at No. 8, this is the first time two Americans are in the Top 10 of the ATP rankings at the same time since the week of May 7th, 2012, when Mardy Fish was No. 9 and John Isner was No. 10.

And with Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff currently at No. 5 and No. 7 on the WTA rankings, this is the first time there are multiple American men and multiple American women in the Top 10 at the same time since the week of January 26th, 2009, when Andy Roddick and James Blake were No. 9 and No. 10 and Serena and Venus Williams were No. 2 and No. 6.

There’s another American knocking on the door of the Top 10, too—Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul rises from No. 16 to No. 15 today, his Top 15 debut, after a second-round showing in Stuttgart.

The winner of the other ATP event last week in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Dutch No. 1 Tallon Griekspoor, rises from No. 38 to No. 29—his Top 30 debut.

And two Challenger winners also make notable moves: Andy Murray rises from No. 44 to No. 38, his highest ranking since he was No. 34 the week of April 23rd, 2018, after capturing his second grass-court Challenger title in as many weeks in Nottingham; and Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan, who pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year with his victory over Carlos Alcaraz in Rome, rises from No. 113 to No. 91—his Top 100 debut—after winning a clay-court Challenger in Italy.

Speaking of Alcaraz, he can actually reclaim No. 1 from Novak Djokovic next Monday—just in time for the Wimbledon seedings—if he were to win the ATP 500 grass-court event at Queen’s Club this week.

Over on the WTA rankings this week, Katie Boulter soars from No. 126 to a new career-high of No. 77 after winning the first WTA title of her career in Nottingham. Boulter set her previous career-high of No. 82 in February 2019, shortly before she was sidelined for more than half a year due to a back injury—that lay-off caused her to fall out of the Top 400 in 2020, but she’s been working her way back up ever since, and with her triumph in Nottingham she comes full circle.

Another Nottingham standout, American Elizabeth Mandlik—daughter of four-time Grand Slam champion Hana Mandlikova—makes her Top 100 debut this week, rising from No. 110 to No. 97 after reaching the first WTA quarterfinal of her career at the grass-court event.

And last but certainly not least, Egypt’s Mayar Sherif slides her way to yet another career-high this week—a week ago she jumped from No. 54 to No. 40, her Top 40 debut, after winning a WTA 125K clay-court event in Makarska, Croatia, and today she jumps from No. 40 to No. 31 after winning another WTA 125K clay-court event in Valencia, Spain.

Sherif is the second-highest-ranked Arab player in WTA rankings history, after Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, who’s been as high as No. 2.