Ranking Reaction: Danish teenager Holger Rune breaks into Top 20 on ATP rankings

Holger Rune’s incredible rise up the ATP rankings continues today as he makes his Top 20 debut, rising from No. 25 to No. 18 after reaching the final in Basel.

The Dane began the season at No. 103 but has soared 85 spots since then, his most notable jumps coming after winning his first ATP title in Munich in May (No. 70 to No. 45), reaching his first major quarterfinal at Roland Garros (No. 40 to No. 28) and now reaching the biggest final of his career at the ATP 500 in Basel (No. 25 to No. 18).

He’s won 13 of his last 15 matches and made three straight finals, finishing runner-up in Sofia (to Marc-Andrea Huesler), winning Stockholm (defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final) and now finishing runner-up in Basel (to Felix Auger-Aliassime).

Rune is the fourth man born in the 2000s to reach the Top 20 on the ATP rankings, and with only 206 of his 1,991 ranking points to defend over the next five months, he has a fantastic opportunity to go much, much higher.

MEN BORN IN 2000 OR LATER TO REACH TOP 20 ON ATP RANKINGS:
~ Felix Auger-Aliassime [born 2000; Top 20 debut on August 19, 2019]
~ Jannik Sinner [born 2001; Top 20 debut on April 19, 2021]
~ Carlos Alcaraz [born 2003; Top 20 debut on February 21, 2022]
~ Holger Rune [born 2003; Top 20 debut on October 31, 2022]

Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who was born in 2002, seems to be on the verge of joining that group, currently ranked a career-high No. 23 in the world.

Five women born in the 2000s have reached the Top 20 on the WTA rankings so far: Bianca Andreescu, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez.

Speaking of players born in the 2000s, and more specifically Auger-Aliassime, the Canadian rises from No. 9 back to his career-high of No. 8 today after winning his third ATP title in as many weeks, the only player to do so this year—he won back-to-back ATP 250s in Florence and Antwerp before conquering the ATP 500 in Basel.

He’s now on a 13-match winning streak, and even more impressively, he’s now held his last 86 service games in a row, a stretch that dates back to early in the first set of his quarterfinal match against Dan Evans in Antwerp two weeks ago.

A little further up the ATP rankings, former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev rises from No. 4 to No. 3, switching spots with Casper Ruud, after winning his second ATP title of the year—and the 15th of his career—at the ATP 500 event in Vienna.

And last but not least, Dominic Thiem’s goal of returning to the Top 100 this year has been achieved, as the former No. 3 rises from No. 113 to No. 100 today after reaching the second round of Vienna, where he fell to eventual champion Medvedev.

Thiem missed nine months of action between June 2021 and March 2022 with a wrist injury and was ranked outside the Top 350 as recently as the summer.