Who can claim the No. 1 spots?
The answer to that seemingly simple question is increasingly unclear
In professional tennis these days, confusion reigns. Clarity is elusive.
Which makes it all terrifically compelling.
Usually, at any given time, there is an answer to the basic question: “Who’s No. 1?” If it wasn’t Pete Sampras, it was Andre Agassi. If it wasn’t Justine Henin, it was Lindsay Davenport or Maria Sharapova.
These days, this is not the case, and definitely not from the perspective of an intrigued Canadian tennis observer.
Who’s really No. 1 among the best men in the world? Not clear.
Who’s really No. 1 among the best women? Nobody knows.
Who’s No. 1 among Canada’s best men and women? Your guess is as good as mine.
As we move from July’s green lawns of Wimbledon towards the hard courts of the Rogers Cup, answers remained hard to find. Which is the fun of it all, right?
Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon triumph, beating Kevin Anderson in the final after a thrilling five-set, two-day victory over Rafael Nadal, reinserted the 30-year-old Serb into the conversation as to which man is the best in the world at the moment. Until then, the debate had been mostly between Nadal and Roger Federer, with Djokovic and Andy Murray either sidelined or hampered by troubling injuries.
Now Djokovic, peerless for a time in 2015 and 2016, has his fourth Wimbledon title, and a theoretical chance in time to lay claim to his former No. 1 status. Nadal won the French Open in May and made it to the Wimbledon semis, so he’s still right there.
Federer (who has withdrawn from this year’s Rogers Cup in a bid to ease his schedule) won the Australian Open in January, skipped the clay court season then fell to Anderson at Wimbledon, blowing a two-sets-tonone lead.
Three majors so far in 2018. Three different winners. It’s safe to say this debate will be raging as the best men in the world arrive in Toronto.
Among Canadian men, 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov was eliminated in the second round at the All-England Club, while 27-year-old Milos Raonic made a surprising run to the quarterfinals. In May, Shapovalov moved past the injury-plagued Raonic in the ATP world rankings for the first time. But Raonic’s solid performance at Wimbledon seemed to be a statement on his part that he’s not yet prepared to cede his position to the younger Shapovalov.
At the Rogers Cup in Montreal last summer, Shapovalov stunned the tennis world by defeating Juan Martin del Potro and Nadal in succession, then made it all the way to the semifinals before losing to another young gun, Germany’s Alexander Zverev. This summer, he’ll try to do something similar in his hometown.
For now, meanwhile, the question of whether Raonic or Shapovalov is Canada’s best is an intriguing one. When they met on clay in Madrid earlier this year, it was Shapovalov who came away with the straight sets victory. An ongoing rivalry would be terrific to watch.
While the men joust in Toronto, the best of the WTA tour will be in Montreal, and there’s even more uncertainty as to which woman is the best in the world right now. Simona Halep of Romania won her first Grand Slam event at Roland Garros this year, but along with all the other top 10 seeds, Halep didn’t even make it to the second week at Wimbledon. Instead, it became the Serena Williams show, with the 36-year-old Williams given controversial preferential treatment as the No. 25 seed. Williams, who gave birth to her first child last September, seemed poised to demonstrate that she was still the best until she was stunned in straight sets in the women’s final by Angelique Kerber of Germany.
So where does that leave us? Confused. Caroline Wozniacki won in Australian, Halep took the French Open and Kerber triumphed in London, and when you throw in last year’s U.S. Open champion, Sloane Stephens of the U.S., you can see just how unclear things are at the top of the women’s tour.
For Canadian women, it’s a period of reassessment. For the first time in since Eugenie Bouchard asserted herself as a burgeoning star in women’s tennis back in 2013, she is no longer the top-ranked female player in Canada. That honour goes to 23year-old Carol Zhao, the Stanford grad.
Meanwhile, the impressive performance of18-year-old Bianca Andreescu in Canada’s Fed Cup victory over Ukraine in April suggests she may be the player to watch.
Who else? Twenty-seven-year-old Rebecca Marino of Vancouver has returned to the sport after a five-year absence. Marino won a Challenger event in Winnipeg the same week as Wimbledon and has started moving up the rankings again. There isn’t a Canadian woman among the top 100 in the world right now. But there’s potential for one of several players to get there in 2019.
If you prefer cloudiness to clarity, the world of pro tennis is for you right now. Deciding who is No. 1 is more about preference than stats, making the overall conversation vibrant and contentious as the industry arrives in Canada for the Rogers Cup.