Mens Tennis

Carlos Alcaraz Becomes Youngest Year-End No. 1, Rafael Nadal Extends Top 10 Record | ATP Tour

Carlos Alcaraz Becomes Youngest Year-End No. 1, Rafael Nadal Extends Top 10 Record | ATP Tour

The ATP today published the 2022 year-end Pepperstone ATP Rankings on ATPTour.com with Spaniards Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal headlining a season of record-breaking performances and milestones. Alcaraz and Nadal are the first countrymen to finish No. 1 and 2 since Americans Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1996.

Alcaraz, 19, is the first teenager and youngest player to finish No. 1 in the 50 editions of the year-end Pepperstone ATP Rankings, while Nadal, 36, is the oldest to finish in the Top 2. Nadal also finishes in the Top 10 for a record-extending 18th consecutive year and ties Roger Federer for the most Top 10 finishes overall with 18.

Alcaraz is the first player other than Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to finish No. 1 since Andy Roddick in 2003. He also makes the biggest jump to year-end No. 1 in history, rising from No. 32 at the end of 2021.

Alcaraz and No. 11 Holger Rune, also 19, are the first pair of teenagers to finish in the Top 15 since 1990 (No. 5 Sampras, No. 9 Goran Ivanisevic and No. 15 Chang). Rune finished 2021 at No. 103 before breaking into both the Top 100 and the Top 10 during the 2022 season.

Alcaraz is one of three new faces in the year-end Top 10 along with No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 9 Taylor Fritz. Auger-Aliassime, 22, is the youngest Canadian to end a year in the Top 10 and second overall (Milos Raonic in 2014 at No. 8 and 2016 at No. 3). Fritz, 25, is the youngest American in the year-end Top 10 since No. 6 Roddick, 24, in 2006.

Djokovic finishes in the Top 5 for the 15th time in the past 16 years. He was also ranked No. 1 for 20 weeks during the season, bringing his record total of weeks atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings to 373.

Three players were ranked No. 1 in 2022: Alcaraz (16 weeks through 31 December), Djokovic (20 weeks) and Daniil Medvedev (16 weeks). Alcaraz and Medvedev are the first pair of players to debut at No. 1 in the same season since Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003.

At least seven players 25-and-under finished in the Top 10 for the second year in a row (8 in 2021). Joining Alcaraz, Auger-Aliassime and Fritz in the 2022 year-end Top 10 are 23-year-old Casper Ruud of Norway, 24-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and 25-year-olds Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz.

2022 Year-End Pepperstone ATP Rankings Top 10
1) Carlos Alcaraz
Second Spanish year-end No. 1, joining five-time year-end No. 1 Rafael Nadal

2) Rafael Nadal Ends year at No. 2 for eighth time…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Tennis – ATP World Tour…