The most improved players:
Hubert Hurkacz
Polish player Hubert Hurkacz beat five higher seeds to win the biggest of singles titles at the Miami Open as world number 37, becoming the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion since number 50 Tomas Berdych at Paris Bercy 2005.
Hurkacz became the top Polish men’s player, when he ended the 2021 season at his career-high number 9 after reaching the Paris Bercy semifinal and qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. He has overtaken Wojciech Fibak for the highest ranked Polish man in history.
Hurkacz also won two ATP 250 titles in Delray Beach beating Sebastian Korda and in Metz beating Pablo Carreno Busta and reached the quarter final at Indian Wells without dropping a set. At the Halle Open he reached his second doubles final with his partner Felix Auger Aliassime, but they finished runner-up to Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau.
Casper Ruud:
Casper Ruud won five ATP Tour titles in Geneva, Bastad, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and San Diego. The former world Junior number 1 player achieved his career high number 8 after claiming his fifth title of the season and the sixth of his career in San Diego. With his three clay-court titles at Bastad, Gstaad, and Kitzbuhel in July 2021 he became the first player to win three titles in as many weeks since Andy Murray in Bangkok, Shanghai and Tokyo in 2011.
Ruud reached the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career at the 2021 Australian Open. On his debut at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Ruud recorded his second top 10 win by beating Diego Schwartzman in straight sets in the second round. He went on to beat Pablo Carreno Busta and Fabio Fognini to reach the second Masters 1000 semifinal of his career before losing to Andrey Rublev.
At the Madrid Mutua Open the 22-year-old Scandinavian player scored his first top 5 win beating Stefanos Tsitsipas before beating Alexander Bublik in the quarter final to reach his third consecutive Masters 1000 on clay after Rome 2020 and Monte-Carlo 2021. He lost to eventual finalist Berrettini in the semifinal.
Ruud made his debut at the ATP Finals in Turin. He beat Cameron Norrie and Andrey Rublev and lost to Novak Djokovic; he finished second in his round robin group to qualify for the semifinal, where he lost to Danil Medvedev in straight sets.
Casper Ruud follows in the footsteps of his father Christian, who was a former world number 39 in the ATP Rankings. He reached the Australian Open fourth round in 1997 and now coaches his son. Ruud has been picked up two nominations for ATP Most Improved player and the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award.
Cameron Norrie:
Cameron Norrie achieved his career-high number 13 in November 2021 after becoming the first British player to win the Indian Wells Masters 1000 title in 45-year tournament history beating Nikoloz Basilashvili in the final. Norrie claimed his first ATP Tour title in Los Cabos in the fifth final of his career beating US Next Gen player Brandon Nakashima, following four runner-up finishes at Auckland 2019 as wild card, Estoril, Lyon and Queen’s in 2021. He showed his versatility reaching five finals on three different surfaces: hard-court (Indian Wells and Los Cabos), clay (Lyon) and grass (Queen’s).
He earned the second alternate spot at the ATP Finals in Turin and entered the end-of-season tournament after Stefanos Tsitsipas withdrew due to an elbow injury. Norrie was beaten by Casper Ruud and Novak Djokovic in his matches of the round robin group.
Norrie was born on 23 August 1995 in Johannesburg (South Africa) to a Scottish father and a Welsh mother, who were both microbiologists. In 1998 he moved to New Zealand with his parents, who still live there. At the age of 16 he moved to London, where he lived for three years before attending the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth from 2014 to 2017. He turned professional during the grass court season of the 2017 ATP Tour.
Aslan Karatsev:
Aslan Karatsev started the year at world 112 in the ATP Rankings and rose to a career-high number 15 in November.
Karatsev beat Brandon Nakashima in the opening round of qualifying at the Australian Open. In Melbourne Karatsev beat Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov before losing to Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. The Russian player rose to number 42 following the Australian Open, becoming the first player in the Open Era to reach the semifinals in a Grand Slam main draw debut and the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon 2000. He was also the lowest-ranked Grand Slam semifinalist since world number 125 Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon 2001.
Karatsev claimed the first title of his career in Dubai, beating South Africa’s Lloyd Harris in the final.
Karatsev also finished runner-up to Matteo Berrettini in the final of the Serbian Open in Belgrade. He beat Novak Djokovic in the Belgrade semifinal and Danil Medvedev in the Rome Masters 1000 second round. He went on to achieved his career-high number 15 after beating compatriot Karen Khachanov en route to his second ATP Tour title at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Karatsev teamed up with Elena Vesnina in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros, where they lost to Joe Salisbury and Desirae Krawczyk.
At the Olympic Games in Tokyo Karatsev won the silver medal in mixed doubles with Elena Vesnina after losing to Andrey Rublev and Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova in the final.
At the 2021 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells he reached the fourth round at a Masters 1000 for the first time in his career
