Zverev Takes Early Control In ATP Race After Germany's United Cup Win

| by Nurein Ahmed

Alexander Zverev has set the early pace in the ATP Race, which accounts for points earned during the course of the season to determine the year-end rankings.

Zverev guided Germany to a maiden United Cup title, garnering eight wins at the tournament. Four of those came in singles, where he defeated the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Hubert Hurkacz (ranked in the Top 10) to accumulate the most points of any player at the tournament.

His four singles wins accounted for 335 points, and he comfortably took control of the early race. Zverev wasn't the only champion this past weekend. Grigor Dimitrov returned to the winner's circle for the first time since 2017 after capturing the Brisbane International.

Andrey Rublev was the other ATP player who stood on the champion podium Sunday after winning the Hong Kong Open. Rublev and Dimitrov received 250 points and jointly held second in the race. Alex de Minaur came in fourth place with 230 points.

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The 24-year-old is ranked a career-high World No. 10 as of this week, becoming the first Australian man to occupy that position since 2006. De Minaur helped host nation Australia reach the semifinal of the United Cup following his thrilling win over Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic finished as the year-end No. 1 last season for a record-extending eighth time. He is currently in 41st position after the first week, but that is expected to change drastically in the next two to three weeks when he will launch his bid to win an 11th Australian Open.

The likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, and Jannik Sinner have yet to strike a ball in an ATP tournament this year and don't have any points to show for it.

Some of the surprise names in the early race include Zizou Bergs, who sits in 5th place thanks to points earned from winning the Yokkaichi Challenger in early December.

Dominik Koepfer won the Canberra Challenger this past weekend and is in 10th with 141 points. The ATP Race is significant in determining the year-end No. 1 and the qualifying players for the ATP Finals in Turin and the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah.

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2024 ATP Race as of January 8th, 2024:

Rank Player Points
1 Alexander Zverev 335
2 Alex de Minaur 265
3 Grigor Dimitrov 250
4 Andrey Rublev 250
5 Zizou Bergs 175
6 Holger Rune 165
7 Emil Ruusuvuori 165
8 Hubert Hurkacz 150
9 Dominik Koepfer 141
10 Casper Ruud 130
11 James Duckworth 120
12 Valentin Vacherot 120
13 Roberto Bautista Agut 110
14 Fabio Fognini 109
15 Alejandro Tabilo 105
16 Arthur Cazaux 100
17 Sebastian Ofner 100
18 Juncheng Shang 100
19 Roman Safiullin 100
20 Jordan Thompson 100
21 Nuno Borges 100
22 Facundo Diaz Acosta 100
23 Michael Mmoh 98
24 Aleksandar Kovacevic 98
25 Roman Andres Burruchaga 87
26 Brandon Nakashima 85
27 Pedro Martinez 84
28 Yosuke Watanuki 84
29 Patrick Kypson 82
30 Benoit Paire 81
31 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 80
32 Jakub Mensik 80
33 Li Tu 79
34 Maximilian Marterer 75
35 Duje Ajdukovic 75
36 Denis Yevseyev 70
37 Kilian Feldbausch 69
38 Santiago Rodriguez Taverna 66
39 Alex Michelsen 63
40 Vadym Ursu 61
41 Novak Djokovic 60
42 Thiago Monteiro 60
43 Gilbert Klier Junior 59
44 Marc Polmans 59
45 Yuta Shimizu 57
46 Albert Ramos-Vinolas 56
47 Arthur Gea 55
48 Coleman Wong 52
49 Gustavo Heide 52
50 Sho Shimabukuro 50

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