Ranking Reaction: Felix Auger-Aliassime reaches new career-high of No. 9

The first week of tournaments of the 2022 season just took place and there’s already a new career-high for one of the biggest names in the game, as Felix Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 9 on the ATP rankings following his heroics at the ATP Cup.

Alongside Denis Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime took Canada all the way to the title at the team event, even getting the biggest win of his career along the way against Alexander Zverev—his win over the No. 3-ranked German was his first Top 5 win.

Both Canadians added points to their rankings, but while Shapovalov stays at No. 14 this week, Auger-Aliassime moves up two spots from No. 11 to No. 9, hopping over his previous high of No. 10, which he got to for one week last November.

The 21-year-old hopes the result will inspire the whole team to bigger things in 2022.

“Winning is not easy, it takes a lot of effort, a lot of work,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I think for sure that this momentum, at least for Denis and I, we played matches, but for the other guys, I’ve been in situations also in the past where I was a part of the team that won something, and just that feeling of winning, the confidence that it brings to each individual, I think is great. So I think that’s why this event is great.

“I hope the best to all the boys for the rest of the season. We have a lot of belief in each other. Hopefully this carries on, not just this week, but a lot of months to come.”

Auger-Aliassime is now the standalone fifth-highest-ranked Canadian in either ATP or WTA rankings history, and one of six in total to reach the Top 10.

HIGHEST-RANKED CANADIANS IN ATP OR WTA RANKINGS HISTORY
No. 3: Milos Raonic (2016)
No. 4: Bianca Andreescu (2019)
No. 5: Eugenie Bouchard (2014)
No. 8: Carling Bassett-Seguso (1985)
No. 9: Felix Auger-Aliassime (2022)
No. 10: Denis Shapovalov (2020)

Auger-Aliassime isn’t the only notable new career-high on the ATP rankings this week, with Taylor Fritz inching ever closer to his Top 20 debut, rising from No. 23 to No. 22. The American won two of his three matches at ATP Cup, beating Auger-Aliassime and Cam Norrie, which continued a strong trend for him—he’s now won seven of his last nine matches against Top 20 players since last October.

Another American, Maxime Cressy, made his Top 100 debut, soaring from No. 112 to No. 75 after reaching the first ATP final of his career at the Melbourne Summer Set, finishing runner-up to Rafael Nadal in a close two-setter.

There are two new career-highs in the Top 20 of the WTA rankings as well, with Elena Rybakina moving up from No. 14 to No. 13 after reaching the final of Adelaide and Emma Raducanu going from No. 19 to No. 18 despite not competing this past week—the US Open champion benefited from Petra Kvitova dipping from No. 17 to No. 21.

There's good news for Simona Halep, too, as she jumps from No. 20 to No. 15 after winning her 23rd career WTA title at the Melbourne Summer Set. It’s an important move, as it guarantees the former No. 1 a Top 16 seed at the Australian Open.