Each month, Ravi Ubha will reveal his latest assessment of the tours in the TENNIS.com Top 25. This list is not a reflection of actual ranking points gained or lost, but a combination of each player's current form and past pedigree—along the lines of the Top 25 polls in U.S. college football and basketball. (For the ATP and WTA rankings, click here; for our previous Top 25, click here.)
Tennis has seen two dominant No. 1s this season. The one that continues to play continues to overpower opponents and, unsurprisingly, leads the way in this month’s Top 25.
Will anyone beat Djokovic in the remainder of 2015? Based on his performance in China—not losing a set in both Beijing and Shanghai—it doesn’t look like it. Let’s throw out this question: Who was more dominant at the height of their powers, Djokovic, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal?
Eugenie Bouchard may not have clicked with Sam Sumyk, but Muguruza and the Frenchman have gotten off to a great start. And having reached the final in Wuhan and winning in Beijing, Muguruza is one of the favorites at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Struggling in the first half of 2015, Radwanska was a longshot to make the year-end championships. Her resurgence began at Wimbledon, and titles in Tokyo and Tianjin, coupled with a semifinal showing in Beijing, got her to Singapore with a little room to spare.
Hmm, you think Kerber is tired? She’s played four straight weeks, making at least the quarterfinals in Tokyo, Beijing, Wuhan, and Hong Kong. Her withdrawal from Moscow, then, wasn’t surprising. Only an unexpected twist would see her miss out on Singapore.
The fifth most important tournament on the women’s calendar won’t have its marquee player. But Williams says she needs to “heal” after a tough year, both physically and mentally, so we’ll next see her—presumably—in Oz, not including exhibitions.
The good news for Wawrinka? He won the title in Tokyo. The bad news? Following his semifinal stinker versus Federer at the U.S. Open, he put in a similarly bad outing against Nadal in Shanghai. I think he wanted to impress in those matches so badly that he couldn’t play freely.
Shanghai was a small blotch on an otherwise superb campaign for Federer. But it’s not like he played bad against Albert Ramos-Vinolas. He was superior in just about every statistical category. One of those days. Onto the indoor swing.
Making the U.S. Open final has, predictably, given Vinci renewed vigor. Her growing fan base approves. In her first tournament since New York, the Italian upset Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova on the way to a semifinal showing in Wuhan. Upset artist Bethanie Mattek-Sands then downed Vinci in Beijing.
Nice to have you back, Bacsinszky. It would have been a shame had the Swiss fallen off the map after her brilliant first seven months of the season, and her run to the final in Beijing ensured that won’t happen. Out of the game two years ago, she’s now a Top 10 player.
There’s no doubt about it: The Asian swing had to be a confidence booster for Nadal and his many fans. The Beijing final against Djokovic wasn’t as lopsided as the 6-2, 6-2 score indicated, and Rafa collected three good wins in Shanghai over Ivo Karlovic, Milos Raonic, and Wawrinka.
Tsonga cut the gap to less than 1,000 points in the race for the last spot at the year-end championships. And with Paris still on the way—where he regularly thrives—no one should be ruling him out of London yet. His diving volley against Nadal in Shanghai was one of the shots of the year.