ATP Tour News
Rybakina rises to world No 1 after US Open title sends rankings into motion
Rybakina takes No 1 from Sabalenka after US Open title, while changes hit the WTA top 20.
Elena Rybakina’s long-awaited climb to the top of the WTA Rankings is now official after she moved past Aryna Sabalenka for the No 1 position, while the race behind them also tightened.
Sabalenka had held the top spot for 99 straight weeks, a stretch that began on 21 October 2024. Rybakina had chances to catch her earlier in the season at the French Open and Wimbledon, but those openings slipped away. At the US Open, though, she left nothing to chance. A place in the semi-finals would have been enough to secure the top ranking, yet she went further and claimed the title after defeating Sabalenka in three sets in the final.
That victory delivered a major points swing. Rybakina added 1,760 points to her total, helped by defending only 240 points from an early exit 12 months ago, while Sabalenka lost 700 points. The result leaves Rybakina ahead by 2,02.
Sabalenka’s challenge does not stop there. Jessica Pegula is now 610 points behind her, with Coco Gauff just 21 points further back. The pressure inside the top 10 continues as Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova stay in fifth and sixth, Elina Svitolina climbs two places, and Karolina Muchova and Iga Swiatek each slip one.
There is also a new name in the top 10, with Marta Kostyuk debuting at No 10 after Amanda Anisimova dropped one place to No 11. Diana Shnaider was the biggest mover in the top 20, rising three spots to No 13, while Naomi Osaka fell four places to No 17.
Further down, Zheng Qinwen’s run to the quarter-finals after coming through qualifying lifts her back into the top 100 at No 52. Yuliia Starodubtseva also breaks the top 50 for the first time, climbing to No 43.
ATP Tour News
Pegula’s 2026 consistency puts her ahead of Sabalenka and Rybakina in WTA wins
Pegula’s 50 wins in 2026 put her ahead of Sabalenka and Rybakina in the WTA race.
Jessica Pegula may still be searching for a first Grand Slam title, but her 2026 campaign has been a model of consistency and output.
The American has already reached two Grand Slam semi finals, doing so at the Australian Open and the US Open, while also advancing to the quarter finals of Wimbledon. She has added titles at the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Charleston Open, and has also reached three more WTA Tour finals this season.
That run has now given Pegula a statistic that stands above both Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. Sabalenka and Rybakina have shared one of the season’s main rivalries, meeting in the finals of the Australian Open and the US Open. Even so, Pegula now has more victories across the year than either of the Grand Slam champions.
Pegula claimed her 50th win of the season by defeating Emma Navarro in the quarter finals of the US Open, moving clear at the top of the WTA Tour’s victory table. Rybakina is just behind on 49, while Sabalenka has 46.
The numbers also reflect workload. Pegula has compiled her 50 wins in 63 matches. Rybakina has 49 wins from 62 matches, and Sabalenka has collected 46 wins from 55 matches this season. Sabalenka has had difficult spells during the year, but her total remains impressive.
Behind the leading three, Roland Garros champion Mirra Andreeva has 44 wins, while Elina Svitolina has 43. Alexandra Eala, who topped the victories list earlier in the season after winning the Washington Open, is now seventh with 40.
Pegula is next scheduled to play the Singapore Open, which begins on 21st September. Rybakina and Sabalenka are due back at the China Open, the penultimate Masters tournament on the WTA Tour.
Pegula is currently third in the race for the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, and is well placed to qualify again for the event scheduled for November 8th to 15th.
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Alcaraz sets out packed finish to 2026 after injury-delayed return
Alcaraz returns to action with a busy late-season schedule after his wrist injury.
Carlos Alcaraz has mapped out the closing stretch of his 2026 season, with seven tournaments added to his schedule for the remainder of the year. Only four of those events will count as official ATP Tour appearances.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion has been limited to seven tournaments so far this season after a right wrist injury interrupted his campaign. He was sidelined for four months and did not return to match play until the US Open, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing in five sets to Ben Shelton.
Before the setback, Alcaraz had already picked up important results. He won the Australian Open and the Qatar Open, and also finished runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the Monte Carlo Masters. His year, however, was badly affected when he injured his wrist at the Barcelona Open. That issue forced him to miss the Madrid Open, Italian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open.
At Flushing Meadows, he was cleared to compete and moved through five matches without any visible effects from the wrist problem. With the injury now said to be fully behind him, the world No. 3 is preparing for a crowded end to the year.
His next stop is the Laver Cup, which will be staged at the O2 Arena in London from 25 to 27 September. He will again feature for Team Europe, alongside newly-crowned US Open champion Alexander Zverev, Flavio Cobolli, Rafael Jodar, Jakub Mensik and Casper Ruud. It will be his third straight appearance in the event, and Team Europe will be aiming to take back the title after Team World’s 15-9 win in San Francisco last year.
Alcaraz then returns to ATP Tour action in Tokyo, where he will defend his Japan Open title from 30 September. He follows that with the Shanghai Masters from 7 to 18 October, a tournament where he will not be defending points after missing last year’s event with an ankle injury.
After that, he is scheduled for the exhibition Six Kings Slam in Riyadh from 21 to 24 October, before the Paris Masters from 2 to 8 November and the ATP Finals in Turin from 15 to 22 November. His final event of the season is likely to be the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna, Italy, provided Spain qualify.
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Zverev closes in on Sinner as the ATP ranking battle intensifies
Zverev has cut into Sinner’s lead, and the points race is now tightly balanced.
Jannik Sinner had to view the outcome from afar as Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton in the US Open final to secure a second Grand Slam title.
Zverev has made the most of injuries to Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner during the season, adding both Roland Garros and the US Open to his resume. That run has left the race at the top of the ATP Tour rankings finely poised, with only 1810 points separating Zverev and Sinner.
The German now has a clear opportunity to challenge for the No. 1 spot before the year is out, while Sinner faces a demanding return to the tour. The Italian is expected back at the China Open, which starts on September 30th, but that comeback arrives after a long absence from competition. He has not played since Wimbledon in July, so regaining rhythm will be part of the challenge.
The pressure on Sinner goes beyond form. Between now and the end of the 2026 season, he is defending 3,550 ranking points. Much of that total comes from a strong run at this stage last year, when he won the China Open, the Vienna Open, the Paris Masters, and the ATP Finals.
That means he will need to reproduce those results to protect his points and hold off Zverev in the closing months of the season. The one event where he will not carry that same burden is the Shanghai Masters, scheduled for October 7th to 18th, because he was defeated in the round of 32 there in 2025 by Tallon Griekspoor after fatigue set in.
There are still unknowns around Sinner’s physical condition, and the calendar offers little room for adjustment. Even so, he has already shown he can beat the best without much match play. He won Wimbledon without a warm-up tournament on grass, defeating Novak Djokovic, Zverev, and Jenson Brooksby along the way.
Zverev, by contrast, enters the run-in with only 1,040 points to defend. He did not win a title during this stretch in 2025, giving him a strong opening to collect points and keep pressing for the top of the ATP Tour.
