By Jürgen Fritz, Mon 22 Aug 2022, Cover photo: © JFB

Borna Ćorić, No. 152 in the ATP Ranking, beats four top ten players in five days at the Cincinnati Masters and wins a 1000 tournament for the first time in his career. In The True Tennis World Ranking he shoots up to 37. Cincinnati finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas overtakes Casper Ruud to become world No. 6 again.

Ćorić clinches Cincinnati Masters title and shoots into top 40

This has never happened before. Borna Ćorić wins the important Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati (C category) as No. 152 in the ATP ranking. The 25-year-old beat six players in a row, all ranked well over 100 positions above him:

• Lorenzo Musetti (34 in the new JFB Ranking),
• Rafael Nadal (3),
• Roberto Bautista Agut (21),
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (9),
• Cameron Norrie (8) and in tonight’s final
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (6), who had earlier beaten Daniil Medvedev, the world No. 1, in the semi-finals.

That means Coric beat four top ten players in five days, only dropping a set against Nadal.

The Croatian was already in the top 15 as a 21-/22-year-old from October 2018 to October 2019, when persistent injury problems plagued him and he fell further and further behind in his performance. Finally, he had to undergo shoulder surgery in May 2021, which is of course particularly delicate for a tennis player. From March 2021, he did not play a single tournament match for twelve months and then finally returned to the tour in Indian Wells in March 2022, ten months after the operation. In June, he won a Challenger 125 tournament (F category) in Italy and now, completely surprisingly, the 1000 in Cincinnati (C), which, together with the Canada Open, is the most important preparation tournament for the US Open (A), which starts a week from today.

This is also the biggest success in Coric’s entire career so far. In 2017 he won an ATP 250 tournament (E) on clay in Marrakech, and in 2018 the 500 grass tournament in Halle, Westphalia (D). He then reached the final of a 1000s tournament (C) for the first time in Shanghai on hard court, but lost there to Novak Djokovic. Now his third tournament win on the ATP Tour and then a Masters event, again on hard court, which also shows that Coric is a real all-rounder who copes very well on all three surfaces.

In the JFB 52 Week Tennis World Ranking, the Croatian, who turns 26 in November, shoots up to position 37, even though he has only been playing again for 24 weeks. That means Coric has no points to defend for the next 28 weeks. With every match he wins, his score rises, so there is still a lot of room for improvement in the next few months.

Zverev loses 40 points, Tsitsipas overtakes Ruud, Norrie rises from 10 to 8

The defending champion in Cincinnati was Alexander Zverev, who was unable to play due to injury and therefore loses 40 points. However, he remains in fourth position for the time being, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz. Daniil Medvedev remains at one, although he only won one tournament this year, the small E tournament (ATP 250) in Los Cabos. The Russian, however, has 100 of his 339.8 points to defend at the US Open, while Nadal has none at all until the end of the year. For him, just like for Coric, his score rises with every match he wins.

Cincinnati finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas overtakes Casper Ruud and is now No. 6 again. Semifinalist Cameron Norrie moves up two places to 8th. Last year’s finalist Andrey Rublev, who was eliminated in the last 16 by Taylor Fritz, drops from No. 9 to No. 12.

The True Tennis World Ranking

And this is how the current JFB 52 Week Tennis World Ranking looks after the Cincinnati Masters (C):

Here you can read how The True Tennis World Ranking works

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