MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev climbed two notches in the ATP’s (the Association of Tennis Professionals) rankings of the world’s best tennis players, published on Monday.
Last week, Rublev failed to clear the opening round of the tennis tournament in Australia’s Adelaide losing to Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut. Nevertheless, the Russian player now occupies 6th place on the ATP Rankings list, up from last week’s 8th place.
Another Russian tennis star, Daniil Medvedev, inched down one place on the new listing, from 7th to 8th place. Medvedev held the status of the top Russian tennis player in the ATP Rankings since August 2019.
Rublev, 25, is the winner of 12 ATP tournaments. He has also appeared in numerous Grand Slam tournaments, never going further than the quarterfinals. While playing for the Russian national team, he took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup.
The ATP’s Top Ten list is as follows: Number 1 Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain), No. 3 Casper Ruud (Norway), No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece), No. 5 Novak Djokovic (Serbia), No. 6 Andrey Rublev (Russian athlete playing under a neutral status at ATP tournaments), No. 7 Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada), No. 8 Daniil Medvedev (Russian athlete playing under a neutral status at ATP tournaments), No. 9 Taylor Fritz (the United States), and No. 10 Holger Rune (Denmark).
Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February last year, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations and also canceled all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in these countries.
On March 14, 2022 the ITF also confirmed its ban on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.
The Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but under a neutral status.