Right now, who do you think are the Top 5 players on each tour?

RaulRamirez

RaulRamirez

Legend
So whether you go live rankings or live race or something else (other than wishful thinking), who do you regard as the Top 5 right now per ATP and WTA -- in 1-5 order?
Try not to put too much stock in the past or in your projection of the future, although I may have?

My own:

MEN:
Sinner
Alcaraz
Djokovic
Zverev
Not sure...Draper? Fritz? Mensik and Fils getting close

WOMEN:
Sabalenka
Swiatek
...
Gauff
Pegula
Andreeva

(I need to see more from Keys and also Paolini. I may have overreacted on Mirra, but her level is already very high.)
 
WTA:
sabalenka
swiatek
gauff
keys
rybakina

I love watching Pegula, particularly when she is playing in team events like United Cup where she seems to thrive, but it seems like at the later stages of majors when the stakes are highest there is always someone hungrier with an extra physical gear or pace of shot that they can use against Pegz to force the issue and her High IQ game can lose some of its effectiveness.

ATP:
alcaraz
sinner
djokovic
tsitsipas
fils / mensik / draper / musetti

I want to add Ruud and Rune but hard to guage Ruud at this stage of the year and Rune is just too poor a returner to be a top 10 player at the moment.

The players I hope make the biggest inroads this year are Draper, Musetti and Shelton. These guys are the non-major winners I enjoy watching the most right now. Musetti is the best player to watch across both tours when he is in full flight imo.
 
Right now? I cannot call a guy who isn't playing "the best player"

ATP: Carlos, Djoko, ADF (a mug but there he is in the QF/SF of every event), Shelton, Musetti.
 
abmk said:
Sinner, Alcaraz ...no one else !

Sabalenka, Swiatek, Keys, Gauff, Rybakina
Click to expand...
Fair point about Sincaraz. We don't always see them at their best, but when Alcaraz is REALLY in the mood, I think the only player who can stop him is Sinner, and the same vice versa. These two are on a completely different plane of existence to everyone else when they find their level and it feels right that they hold all majors currently.
 
Rosstour said:
Right now? I cannot call a guy who isn't playing "the best player"

ATP: Carlos, Djoko, ADF (a mug but there he is in the QF/SF of every event), Shelton, Musetti.
Click to expand...
I get it on Sinner, but I wasn't being that literal. I mean, he is still #1 and in the Race, he just got surpassed.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Fair point about Sincaraz. We don't always see them at their best, but when Alcaraz is REALLY in the mood, I think the only player who can stop him is Sinner, and the same vice versa. These two are on a completely different plane of existence to everyone else when they find their level and it feels right that they hold all majors currently.
Click to expand...

No it is not "the same vice versa," am getting really tired of ppl making these false equivalencies.

Carlos leads the H2H 6-4, first of all.

Secondly, Sinner's last win over Carlos was Shanghai 2023. More than a year ago.

Thirdly Sinner's last win over Carlos at a Slam was Wimbledon 2022

It's not nearly as close as you Sinnerfans want to wishcast it, and the odds are that Sinner will not immediately come back and get revenge
 
RaulRamirez said:
So whether you go live rankings or live race or something else (other than wishful thinking), who do you regard as the Top 5 right now per ATP and WTA -- in 1-5 order?
Try not to put too much stock in the past or in your projection of the future, although I may have?

My own:

MEN:
Sinner
Alcaraz
Djokovic
Zverev
Not sure...Draper? Fritz? Mensik and Fils getting close

WOMEN:
Sabalenka
Swiatek
...
Gauff
Pegula
Andreeva

(I need to see more from Keys and also Paolini. I may have overreacted on Mirra, but her level is already very high.)
Click to expand...
There are only two great players on the men's tennis circuit today, the others are far below them.
:)
 
Rosstour said:
No it is not "the same vice versa," am getting really tired of ppl making these false equivalencies.

Carlos leads the H2H 6-4, first of all.

Secondly, Sinner's last win over Carlos was Shanghai 2023. More than a year ago.

Thirdly Sinner's last win over Carlos at a Slam was Wimbledon 2022

It's not nearly as close as you Sinnerfans want to wishcast it, and the odds are that Sinner will not immediately come back and get revenge
Click to expand...
Its true. Carlitos is behaving very GOATily in the matchup. I remember when Sinner 2.0 rose to prominence I was pretty vocal about the power dynamic of the matchup possibly changing, but Carlitos had other ideas!!

With that said, I cant see currently see anyone besides Sinner with the toolkit to stop Alcaraz when he is on a tear in Bo5 and Alcaraz is the only guy who can stop Sinner at full sail.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Its true. Carlitos is behaving very GOATily in the matchup. I remember when Sinner 2.0 rose to prominence I was pretty vocal about the power dynamic of the matchup possibly changing, but Carlitos had other ideas!!

With that said, I cant see currently see anyone besides Sinner with the toolkit to stop Alcaraz when he is on a tear in Bo5 and Alcaraz is the only guy who can stop Sinner at full sail.
Click to expand...

Sinner's problem is Alcaraz, but Alcaraz' problem is The Field. He can lose to players that Sinner doesn't lose to. That's his Achilles heel, the hardware race between these two won't just be decided by h2h in Big Finals. It will also (or more so) be decided by how Carlos can do against The Field
 
There is no 5th best ATP player. For as much as I love making fun of Zverev for his comments about being in the same class as Sinner/Alcaraz/Djokovic, there is a pretty big drop off after him at #4 with different players peaking seemingly week to week.

Agree with OP's WTA ranking for the most part, including the big gap. Although I'd put Jess ahead of Coco atm. And I agree Andreeva deserves to be there after back-to-back 1000s. Could end up being a fluke, but I doubt it.
 
Rosstour said:
No it is not "the same vice versa," am getting really tired of ppl making these false equivalencies.

Carlos leads the H2H 6-4, first of all.

Secondly, Sinner's last win over Carlos was Shanghai 2023. More than a year ago.

Thirdly Sinner's last win over Carlos at a Slam was Wimbledon 2022

It's not nearly as close as you Sinnerfans want to wishcast it, and the odds are that Sinner will not immediately come back and get revenge
Click to expand...
I think this overstates the dynamic. Sinner hasn’t beaten Alcaraz in a while, but he is by no means a pigeon. 4 of Alcaraz’s 6 wins came down to a deciding set, including the 2 slam wins and the last 3 wins. I think we’ll see a lot of seesawing in this matchup for years to come.
 
Rosstour said:
Sinner's problem is Alcaraz, but Alcaraz' problem is The Field. He can lose to players that Sinner doesn't lose to. That's his Achilles heel, the hardware race between these two won't just be decided by h2h in Big Finals. It will also (or more so) be decided by how Carlos can do against The Field
Click to expand...
Absolutely. And he has a "weak" major (by his standards) in that the AO conditions are very hostile to his game and he is vulnerable whereas Sinner looks strong pretty much everywhere.
 
Subway Tennis said:
Absolutely. And he has a "weak" major (by his standards) in that the AO conditions are very hostile to his game and he is vulnerable whereas Sinner looks strong pretty much everywhere.
Click to expand...

Ok, but Sinner hasn't won either of the Channel Slams. So again I feel like we should pump the brakes on giving him stuff prematurely. He did beat Alcaraz at Wimbledon though. So I'll give him that. He lost to Djoko in 22/23 and Med in 24. Doesn't seem like he's really on Alcaraz level there in terms of his overall chances vs The Field

The way I look at is, Sinner is the guy to beat on Hard courts. Alcaraz and Djoko are the guys to beat on natural surfaces, grass even more so. Clay is potentially opening up--or is on the verge of an Alcaraz stranglehold a la Rafa.
 
RaulRamirez said:
I know that once a thread starts, that it is open to "subtopics", but for the purpose of this thread, I'd rather not see a Sinner v Alcaraz debate.
For this thread, other than the literal definition of "right now", we all agree that they are both well within the top 5.
Click to expand...

I just think Sinner should be counted out of this discussion entirely since he isn't on the tour at the moment. If we're really just discussing current levels, it's impossible to do that with him
 
jl809 said:
Men
Sinner (even though he isn’t playing lol)
Alcaraz
Djokovic
Fils
Musetti

Women
Sabalenka
Swiatek
Andreeva
Pegula
Keys
Click to expand...

I forgot Fils, good call. For all the hype about Fonseca and Mensik, I feel like I'm seeing Fils matches more often.
 
Rosstour said:
I just think Sinner should be counted out of this discussion entirely since he isn't on the tour at the moment. If we're really just discussing current levels, it's impossible to do that with him
Click to expand...
I won't argue that point of technicality, but am also thinking that nearly everyone would regard this question as including Sinner. No sense, I don't think, of debating the semantics or any philosophical angles of "right now".
 
MeatTornado said:
There is no 5th best ATP player. For as much as I love making fun of Zverev for his comments about being in the same class as Sinner/Alcaraz/Djokovic, there is a pretty big drop off after him at #4 with different players peaking seemingly week to week.

Agree with OP's WTA ranking for the most part, including the big gap. Although I'd put Jess ahead of Coco atm. And I agree Andreeva deserves to be there after back-to-back 1000s. Could end up being a fluke, but I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Can we even consider Zverev top 5? I mean obviously his ranking is high but he's heading in the wrong direction and has openly said he's confounded about the reasons for his poor results of late. There are players having much better seasons
 
MeatTornado said:
There is no 5th best ATP player. For as much as I love making fun of Zverev for his comments about being in the same class as Sinner/Alcaraz/Djokovic, there is a pretty big drop off after him at #4 with different players peaking seemingly week to week.

Agree with OP's WTA ranking for the most part, including the big gap. Although I'd put Jess ahead of Coco atm. And I agree Andreeva deserves to be there after back-to-back 1000s. Could end up being a fluke, but I doubt it.
Click to expand...
In turn, agreed on Mirra. It's hard to picture another player - besides Saba or Iga - winning back-to-back 1000s.
 
RaulRamirez said:
I won't argue that point of technicality, but am also thinking that nearly everyone would regard this question as including Sinner. No sense, I don't think, of debating the semantics or any philosophical angles of "right now".
Click to expand...

I understand, however I'm also considering the possibility that his results may not be there immediately when he gets back. Esp if one believes he was deriving benefits from the banned substance. This isn't like an injury or paternity leave. I'm going more on form than points
 
Rosstour said:
I just think Sinner should be counted out of this discussion entirely since he isn't on the tour at the moment. If we're really just discussing current levels, it's impossible to do that with him
Click to expand...

I think that's a very good point. However if we mean 'right now' as you rightly highlight, then I am not all that convinced by the inclusion of Djokovic since he has crashed out in his first match in 3 of his last 4 tournaments (and lost a final in the only tournament where he made any progress).

That's hardly top tier form.
 
intrepidish said:
I think that's a very good point. However if we mean 'right now' as you rightly highlight, then I am not all that convinced by the inclusion of Djokovic since he has crashed out in his first match in 3 of his last 4 tournaments (and lost a final in the only tournament where he made any progress).
Click to expand...

Ok, I understand that, BUT...he beat the tour's overall most dangerous player at the Aussie, and made it to the final of Miami only losing by points. Given the guy's aura, it feels like he's hitting some speed bumps but is on the right track.

If he didn't seem to have a mental edge over Alcaraz, I might not have included him. But if he can beat the game's biggest rising star as a falling star himself, he's still got a claim to the throne.
 
Rosstour said:
Ok, I understand that, BUT...he beat the tour's overall most dangerous player at the Aussie, and made it to the final of Miami only losing by points. Given the guy's aura, it feels like he's hitting some speed bumps but is on the right track.

If he didn't seem to have a mental edge over Alcaraz, I might not have included him. But if he can beat the game's biggest rising star as a falling star himself, he's still got a claim to the throne.
Click to expand...


Well, if the tour's next few months were in Melbourne, maybe I'd be somewhat more sympathetic too but it's not. It's also true that Carlos lost in Melbourne but it's not the first time one of our younger players has been taken out of his game while in an advantageous position by a wily Djokovic with an injury scare. I don't think that will happen again.

There's a lot of reason to suspect that Djokovic isn't able to string together lots of matches and win tournaments (though it's clearly possible). Miami was a good showing more generally from him mixed with 3 horrific showings and I don't think Miami is all that impressive in terms of quality of play, particularly when it comes to these tournaments coming up.

I think Djokovic is mostly being included on the basis of his past performances here honestly and not who he is right now.
 
intrepidish said:
Well, if the tour's next few months were in Melbourne, maybe I'd be somewhat more sympathetic too but it's not. It's also true that Carlos lost in Melbourne but it's not the first time one of our younger players has been taken out of his game while in an advantageous position by a wily Djokovic with an injury scare. I don't think that will happen again.

There's a lot of reason to suspect that Djokovic isn't able to string together lots of matches and win tournaments (though it's clearly possible). Miami was a good showing more generally from him mixed with 3 horrific showings and I don't think Miami is all that impressive in terms of quality of play, particularly when it comes to these tournaments coming up.

I think Djokovic is mostly being included on the basis of his past performances here honestly and not who he is right now.
Click to expand...

He's right there on the bubble for me. A few more crashouts in early rounds and a middling showing at RG will definitely move my needle lower on him. But if he makes a few deep runs on clay and goes into grass season feeling strong, watch out. He is my pick to win Wimbledon this year.
 
ND-13 said:
So Djokovic who has lost to Tabilo, Botic, Opelka and no tournaments won is top 5 ? LOL...
Click to expand...

Like I said if he keeps doing that I'm jumping ship. If he starts making more finals I'm all in for Wimbledon hardware

And BvdZ also beat Alcaraz, who has had some early losses lately too.
 
The basic question of this thread reminds me of a time that I went into a "good" HiFi shop in Paris France.
(Apparently, good = okay to be snobby.) There was a salesman standing there, so I asked him, which CD player was the "best."
With an annoyed look, he said, "Why do Americans always ask which is best? Best CD player, best cheese, best wine,
best skiis, best restaurants??? Don't Americans know that there are many things that are good in their own way???"

Before I could think of an answer, he went away to another room. For the pro tennis players today, I try not to ask myself
who is #3, who is #5? etc... I try to enjoy all of them for their interesting variety, and I'll see who wins, in the end of the day.
------ So Be It :) ------
 
RaulRamirez said:
So whether you go live rankings or live race or something else (other than wishful thinking), who do you regard as the Top 5 right now per ATP and WTA -- in 1-5 order?
Try not to put too much stock in the past or in your projection of the future, although I may have?

My own:

MEN:
Sinner
Alcaraz
Djokovic
Zverev
Not sure...Draper? Fritz? Mensik and Fils getting close

WOMEN:
Sabalenka
Swiatek
...
Gauff
Pegula
Andreeva

(I need to see more from Keys and also Paolini. I may have overreacted on Mirra, but her level is already very high.)
Click to expand...
Men:
Sinner
Alcaraz
Draper
Mensik
Fils
 
RaulRamirez said:
So whether you go live rankings or live race or something else (other than wishful thinking), who do you regard as the Top 5 right now per ATP and WTA -- in 1-5 order?
Try not to put too much stock in the past or in your projection of the future, although I may have?

My own:

MEN:
Sinner
Alcaraz
Djokovic
Zverev
Not sure...Draper? Fritz? Mensik and Fils getting close

WOMEN:
Sabalenka
Swiatek
...
Gauff
Pegula
Andreeva

(I need to see more from Keys and also Paolini. I may have overreacted on Mirra, but her level is already very high.)
Click to expand...
I’m going to put DeManeur at 5.
While not owning a title or winning IW or Miami: consistency has been with the Demon. Draper has IW but nothing close to consistent. It’s hard to project a one time run vs going deep in tourneys consistently over the last year or so.

I’d probably say you can put the Demon at 5.

Ladies:
- sabalanka is far and above the rest of the tour.

- Swiatek

- Pegula
- Gauff
- Andreeva
 
ND-13 said:
So Djokovic who has lost to Tabilo, Botic, Opelka and no tournaments won is top 5 ? LOL...
Click to expand...
After sinner and Carlos: you have to review results and consistency. At Djokers age, the resume speaks for itself. Losing at MC or IW I’m not going to judge bc heading into a GS event: he’s going to go QF/SF most likely.

Zverev at 4 : he’s in a slump but if we’re looking at top 5, he’s been consistent enough. If his slump continues throughout the rest of clay season, then yeah it might be time to bump him out.

The lack of consistency with the Draper, Fritz, mensik, Ruud, Rublev is hard to make a case for top 5. So on the men’s side it’s a little more open and erratic. Guys like Rublev, zverev, and medvedev are in slumps.
Fritz - to me got hot at the USO and EOY finals. He’s not usually a consistent top 5 level through the year.
 
ChrisJR3264 said:
I’m going to put DeManeur at 5.
While not owning a title or winning IW or Miami: consistency has been with the Demon. Draper has IW but nothing close to consistent. It’s hard to project a one time run vs going deep in tourneys consistently over the last year or so.

I’d probably say you can put the Demon at 5.

Ladies:
- sabalanka is far and above the rest of the tour.

- Swiatek

- Pegula
- Gauff
- Andreeva
Click to expand...
Draper made the USO semis. Gotta put him over Deminaur imho
 
ChrisJR3264 said:
After sinner and Carlos: you have to review results and consistency. At Djokers age, the resume speaks for itself. Losing at MC or IW I’m not going to judge bc heading into a GS event: he’s going to go QF/SF most likely.

Zverev at 4 : he’s in a slump but if we’re looking at top 5, he’s been consistent enough. If his slump continues throughout the rest of clay season, then yeah it might be time to bump him out.

The lack of consistency with the Draper, Fritz, mensik, Ruud, Rublev is hard to make a case for top 5. So on the men’s side it’s a little more open and erratic. Guys like Rublev, zverev, and medvedev are in slumps.
Fritz - to me got hot at the USO and EOY finals. He’s not usually a consistent top 5 level through the year.
Click to expand...

There is only top 2. The rest are fillers

It is an insult to treat Djoker as one
 
Rosstour said:
I mean, ADF beat Draper to get to the MC SF. Obviously one is ranked 6 and one is 30 so you may have a case there
Click to expand...
I feel drapers points are inflated vs his overall talent level. I know I’ll take heat for it. But I just feel he’s not consistent enough. The draw was , well , more friendly than Ruud’s in 2022 at the USO. He got through the Demon who everyone was more than surprised even played the tournament due to the injury he suffered at Wimbledon.

He had an impressive run at Indian wells. Can’t take that away from him. But is 2022 another year where it was kinda wide open? I mean this year being wide open after Sinner and Raz?

Medvedev in an extended slump makes you think he won’t return to top 5 level.
Rublev - same : he fails to defend atleast a SF result at Madrid is going to drop him significantly out of the top 15.
Ruud: clay court specialist (kinda).
Titsipas: outside of a new racket title, he’s kinda steered back to Mediocre.
Fritz: seems to play his best after Wimbledon.
Tommy Paul: kinda regressed since his QF AO run where he played quite well.

Then you have Djoko who’s on the downside of his career and may not be taking those M1000 or 500 atp tourneys as serious. I’d be shocked if he plays both Rome and Madrid.

Demon: argument for top 5 but I still think his level isn’t good enough to top sinner nor Raz. He’s very consistent and absolute pain to play.

Zverev: still in a slump since AO. I still can’t knock him off the top 5 players overall but if it continues into the clay where he’s pretty darn good in , then you’d have to knock him out.
 
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