Ranking Reaction: Casper Ruud finishes year at No. 3 following run to final of ATP Finals

While Novak Djokovic swept the field en route to his sixth ATP Finals crown, making all kinds of history along the way, his opponent in the final—Casper Ruud—had a fantastic week too, and today rises from No. 4 back to No. 3 just in time for the ATP year-end rankings.

Ruud has had a breakthrough 2022, reaching three of the five biggest finals of the year at Roland Garros, the US Open and the ATP Finals—and who knows what would have happened at the Australian Open had he not missed it with an ankle injury.

The Norwegian, who spent three weeks at a career-high of No. 2 right after the US Open, is the first Scandinavian to finish a year in the Top 3 of the ATP rankings since Stefan Edberg in 1992.

“Overall if you gave me an offer to end the year at No. 3, play the finals that I’ve played, at the 1st of January this year, I would probably sign the contract right away, no doubt about it. I’m very happy with all that I’ve achieved, how things turned out, played out for me this year. It’s been great,” Ruud said after falling to Djokovic in a hard-fought two-setter, 7-5, 6-3, in the final of the ATP Finals.

“But I still feel like there are room for improvements. So that’s a good thing, I believe, to still be happy and know that there is still room for improvement, which is a good thing.”

Just above Ruud, Rafael Nadal—who won his 21st and 22nd Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros this year—finishes at No. 2, for the 13th year-end Top 2 finish of his career, the most in ATP rankings history. He has five year-end No. 1 finishes (2008, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019) and now eight year-end No. 2 finishes (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2018, 2020 and 2022).

And US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz, who was already the first teenager ever to rise to No. 1 on the ATP rankings, is now the first teenager ever to finish as year-end No. 1 on the ATP rankings.

Meanwhile, there’s a brand new face in the Top 100, as 20-year-old American Ben Shelton breaks into the elite following a three-week, three-title winning streak on the Challenger tour. He rises from No. 108 to No. 97 today after triumphing in Champaign, Illinois.

BEN SHELTON’S LAST THREE WEEKS:
~ Week of Oct. 31: Won Charlottesville Challenger (No. 156 to No. 128)
~ Week of Nov. 7: Won Knoxville Challenger (No. 128 to No. 108)
~ Week of Nov. 14: Won Champaign Challenger (No. 108 to No. 97)

Shelton already caught the eye of the tennis world earlier this year in Cincinnati, reaching the third round of the Masters 1000 event as a No. 229-ranked wild card, taking out a No. 5-ranked Ruud along the way—and becoming the youngest American man to beat a Top 5 player since Andy Roddick beat Gustavo Kuerten in Montreal in 2001 (which was over a year before Shelton was even born).

He’s currently the youngest American in the ATP Top 250.