Ben Shelton hits new career-high ranking of No. 5, just third lefty to be ranked in ATP Top 5 this century

The new ATP rankings are out, and with last year's ATP Finals points falling off, there are some very notable movements among the Top 10.

Right at the top, Carlos Alcaraz moves from No. 2 back to No. 1, switching places with Jannik Sinner—the Italian took the top spot back a week ago after winning the Masters 1000 event in Paris, but with his points from winning the ATP Finals last year dropping off, he dips back below the Spaniard. The two will battle it out for year-end No. 1 in Turin this week.

A few spots down from that, though, is a three-man shuffle—Taylor Fritz falls from No. 4 to No. 6 after his points from reaching the final of the ATP Finals last year drop off, which means Novak Djokovic (who also adds points from winning the Athens title) rises from No. 5 to No. 4, and Fritz's fellow American, Ben Shelton, moves up from No. 6 to No. 5.

For Djokovic, rising to No. 4 is nothing earth-shattering—he's spent an all-time record 428 career weeks at No. 1 on the ATP rankings, after all.

But for Shelton, this week's move is big—it's his Top 5 debut.

Shelton joins some very exclusive lists by breaking into the Top 5.

First of all, he's just the third left-handed player to be ranked in the Top 5 on the ATP rankings this century, after Rafael Nadal, who spent 209 career weeks at No. 1, and Jack Draper, who got up to No. 4 earlier this year.

The last time a left-handed player other than Nadal, Draper or Shelton was in the ATP Top 5 was during the 1999 Australian Open—the weeks of January 18th and 25th, 1999—when Marcelo Rios was No. 2.

LEFT-HANDED PLAYERS TO BE RANKED IN THE ATP TOP 10 THIS CENTURY (those who were ranked in Top 5 in bold):

• Marcelo Rios [ranked as high as No. 7 in 2000]
• Mariano Puerta [career-high No. 9 in 2005]
• Rafael Nadal [career-high No. 1 in 2008]
• Fernando Verdasco [career-high No. 7 in 2009]
• Jurgen Melzer [career-high No. 8 in 2011]
• Denis Shapovalov [career-high No. 10 in 2020]
• Cameron Norrie [career-high No. 8 in 2022]
• Jack Draper [career-high No. 4 in 2025]
• Ben Shelton [career-high No. 5 in 2025]

And to expand on that, Shelton is just the 17th left-handed player to reach the Top 5 in ATP rankings history, which dates back to 1973.

LEFT-HANDED PLAYERS TO REACH TOP 5 IN ATP RANKINGS HISTORY: 17 (listed by career-high ranking):

• No. 1s (5): Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Rafael Nadal
• No. 2s (4): Manuel Orantes, Guillermo Vilas, Petr Korda, Goran Ivanisevic
• No. 3s (1): Rod Laver
• No. 4s (3): Andres Gomez, Guy Forget, Greg Rusedski, Jack Draper
• No. 5s (3): Roscoe Tanner, Henri Leconte, Ben Shelton

And there's more.

Shelton is just the fifth man born in the 2000s to reach the Top 5—and just the third man born in 2002 or later, after Alcaraz and Holger Rune.

PLAYERS BORN IN THE 2000s TO REACH TOP 5 ON ATP RANKINGS: 5 (listed in order of when they debuted in Top 5):

• Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003, Top 5 debut in July 2022]
• Holger Rune [born in 2003, Top 5 debut in August 2023]
• Jannik Sinner [born in 2001, Top 5 debut in October 2023]
• Jack Draper [born in 2001, Top 5 debut in May 2025]
• Ben Shelton [born in 2002, Top 5 debut in November 2025]

Finally, the 23-year-old, who's originally from Georgia, is the 22nd American to reach the Top 5 in ATP rankings history, and just the fourth American lefty after Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner.

AMERICANS TO REACH TOP 5 IN ATP RANKINGS HISTORY: 22 (listed by career-high ranking):

• No. 1s (6): Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick
• No. 2s (2): Arthur Ashe, Michael Chang
• No. 3s (3): Stan Smith, Brian Gottfried, Vitas Gerulaitis
• No. 4s (6): Roscoe Tanner, Gene Mayer, Brad Gilbert, Todd Martin, James Blake, Taylor Fritz
• No. 5s (5): Eddie Dibbs, Harold Solomon, Jimmy Arias, Kevin Curren, Ben Shelton

(Kevin Curren was originally from South Africa but reached No. 5 after switching representation to the United States, and Ivan Lendl fell out of the Top 5 before switching representation to the U.S.)

Meanwhile, a little bit further down on the ATP rankings, Alexander Bublik rises from No. 13 to a new career-high of No. 11 on the eve of the ATP Finals, where he'll be the first alternate. The Kazakh has a chance of breaking into the Top 10 this week, if he plays—and wins—a round-robin match.

And Learner Tien rises from No. 38 to No. 28, his Top 30 debut, after winning the first ATP title of his career in Metz. The 19-year-old Californian is actually the first American teenager to win an ATP title since 2002.