Argentina’s Just Martin del Potro has risen to sixth in the ATP Emirates Rankings after winning his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells.
The former US Open champion defeated Roger Federer in three sets during Sunday’s final to secure his highest ranking since March 2014. Earlier this year Del Potro entered back into the top 10 for the first time since returning from a lengthy absence due to a wrist injury. The 29-year-old has undergone three surgeries on his wrists during his career.
“I’m No. 6 in the world, I think? Which is so good to me.” Del Potro said during his press conference. “And I’m excited to keep working. I’m not expecting — I not expect to go up in the ranking. I don’t care about the numbers. I just want to keep winning titles like this if I can.”
Winning back-to-back tournaments heading into Miami, the Argentine is weary of not trying to push himself too much. Looking ahead to the clay court season, he admits that he needs to be careful with his scheduling. He has only been able to play at the French Open twice since 2012.
“The first thing is try to be healthy during the whole year and play where I like to play. Now I have to do a smart schedule on clay to feel 100% for the rest of the season.” He explained.
Elsewhere in the rankings, the position of the top five remain unchanged. Federer remains at world No.1 with a 290-point lead over Rafael Nadal ahead of the Miami Open. The Swiss 36-year-old is required to reach the quarter-finals of the event to maintain his No.1 ranking going into the clay swing.
Lucas Pouille has broken into the top 10 for the first time in his career. The 24-year-old recently reached back-to-back finals in Marseille and Dubai before losing in the first round at Indian Wells. He is the 12th French player to break into the top 10 on the men’s tour since 1973.
Les 12 🇫🇷 Top10 ATP depuis 1973
3e⏩Noah 1986
4e⏩Forget 1991
4e⏩Grosjean 2002
5e⏩Leconte 1986
5e⏩Pioline 2000
5e⏩Tsonga 2012
6e⏩Simon 2009
6e⏩Monfils 2016
7e⏩Gasquet 2007
10e⏩Tulasne 1986
10e⏩Clément 2001
10e⏩Pouille 2018— julien reboullet (@djub22) 16 March 2018
South Korea’s Hyeon Chung has become the highest ranked Asian player for the first time in his career. Now at 23rd in the world (the highest in history for a Korean player) he is 10 places ahead of Japan’s Kei Nishikori. Nishikori has recently been hit by illness that forced him to withdraw from the first Masters 1000 event of the season.
In the top 100, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis was the biggest climber by rising from 102 to 82. The 32-year-old recently reached the fourth round of Indian Wells as a qualifier. Meanwhile, semifinalists Milos Raonic and Borna Coric both went up 13 places to 25th and 36th.
The current top 10 (w/c 19/3/18)
1. Roger Federer (Switzerland) 9,660 points
2. Rafael Nadal (Spain) 9,370
3. Marin Cilic (Croatia) 4,905
4. Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 4,600
5. Alexander Zverev (Germany) 4,505
6. Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 4,155
7. Dominic Thiem (Austria) 3,675
8. Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 3,235
9. David Goffin (Belgium) 3,190
10. Lucas Pouille (France) 2,420.
