In early March, we ran a story asking the question – which players are not ranked where they should be?
Basing our investigation on the rankings released on Monday 29 February, our panel – comprising doubles legend Todd Woodbridge, Australian Tennis Magazine editor Vivienne Christie, tennismash editor Paul Moore and staff writers Matt Trollope and Leigh Rogers – nominated players they felt were ranked too low, and conversely, too high.
Since we published that story, plenty has transpired on the tennis tours.
> Read Part II (April 2016)
> Read Part III (July 2016)
> Read Part IV (Sept 2016)
Let see where those players stand now that the season has concluded.
The men we felt were ranked “too low” in February:
29 Feb | 11 April | 18 July | 26 Sept | Year-end | |
Ryan Harrison | 168 | 161 | 158 | 115 | 92 |
Grigor Dimitrov | 26 | 26 | 40 | 21 | 17 |
Ernests Gulbis | 72 | 78 | 64 | 104 | 153 |
Jerzy Janowicz | 96 | 104 | 149 | 177 | 280 |
Pierre-Hugues Herbert | 110 | 95 | 77 | 107 | 79 |
Trollope: “I was sure that I was on the money with Janowicz when I picked him back in February. With his weapons and a history (albeit short) of deep runs at the game’s biggest events, there’s no way in my eyes he belongs at world No.96. But instead, he went completely the opposite way I predicted – much of that because he spent six months on the sidelines dealing with knee issues. He did win an ATP Challenger title in Genoa, Italy a week after pushing Novak Djokovic to four sets in the first round of the US Open. But he played just three more events in 2016 – all Challengers – and went a meagre 2-3. The road back to the top looks like a long one for the former world No.14.”
The women we felt were ranked “too low” in February:
29 Feb | 11 April | 18 July | 26 Sept | Year-end | |
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 26 | 27 | 19 | 17 | 28 |
Urszula Radwanska | 111 | 127 | 156 | 236 | 264 |
Elena Vesnina | 89 | 51 | 24 | 20 | 16 |
Bethanie Mattek-Sands | 85 | 84 | 106 | 131 | 175 |
Naomi Osaka | 106 | 94 | 86 | 47 | 40 |
Moore: “Vesnina was always going to go up this year (unless her leg fell off, or something like that). She started the year at No.111, which was a travesty, and when we started this content piece she was No.89 (again, mildly offensive). Admittedly, I didn’t think she would go top 20, but I was confident that she would be back inside the top 30 before the end of the year. She’s such a genuinely talented player, and she also happens to be a thoroughly nice person to boot. Obviously her Wimbledon semi was a singles highlight, but as always she comes into her own in doubles (Olympic Gold and WTA Finals being her standout results). Will she sustain that ranking in to next year? Probably not, but it was fun while it lasted, Elena.”
Rogers: “I watched Osaka qualify in Hobart early in the season and was impressed with the explosive power of her game. At that time she was yet to break into the top 100 – yet with her talent and attitude, I felt such a breakthrough was imminent. To finish the season at No.40 was an incredible effort from the Japanese teen. Most pleasing about the 19-year-old’s season was how well she performs on the biggest stages. She made the third round at all three Grand Slams she contested, beating a seeded opponent at each. Her Tokyo final run was also impressive – she defeated two top-20 opponents to reach her first WTA final. It will be the first of many I sense.”
The men we felt were ranked “too high” in February:
29 Feb | 11 April | 18 July | 26 Sept | Year-end | |
Teymuraz Gabashvili | 48 | 52 | 101 | 108 | 136 |
Gilles Simon | 19 | 18 | 30 | 29 | 25 |
Thomaz Bellucci | 33 | 35 | 49 | 81 | 61 |
Pablo Cuevas | 25 | 25 | 20 | 19 | 22 |
John Isner | 11 | 15 | 16 | 26 | 19 |
Woodbridge: “Gabashvili is a solid player and a good competitor, but lacks a certain something when it comes to feel, touch and creativity. To be ranked where he was, it had to be through sheer determination and he had to be maxing out – evidenced by the 30 tournaments he’d played in the 12 months prior. It was a ranking perhaps based more on quantity rather than quality. And it’s impossible for someone to maintain that schedule without the quality of play slipping at some point. A fall that far in the rankings highlighted an unfortunate loss of confidence and an inability to pull it back.”
The women we felt were ranked “too high” in February:
29 Feb | 11 April | 18 July | 26 Sept | Year-end | |
Timea Bacsinszky | 14 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 15 |
Jelena Jankovic | 21 | 23 | 27 | 39 | 55 |
Carla Suarez Navarro | 6 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 12 |
Angelique Kerber | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Lucie Safarova | 13 | 15 | 28 | 43 | 64 |
Christie: “I’d love to say that I was relying on instinct developed over many years of tennis analysis, but it didn’t take much expertise to see why Jelena Jankovic would fall in the rankings: defending points from the Indian Wells final the previous year, she was losing to players she’d previously have beaten easily. There were impressive patches from Jankovic in 2016 – like her finals run in Guangzhou – but it’s no longer as easy to sustain it. I’m honestly not surprised; at age 31, it’s natural that she’ll increasingly be a step slower as younger players catch up. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if she climbs back up the rankings either. Expect JJ to feature in an entertaining match or two yet!”
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