This article is about how far current top-10 players climbed from their first recorded ranking — and what that number actually means.
Every player in the ATP top 10 was once a nobody in the rankings. The question is how far back they actually started — and the answer, for all of them, is further than most people realise.
Our database tracks rankings for all currently active ATP players, going back to when they first appeared on tour. For each player who has ever reached the top 10, we pulled their very first recorded ranking and compared it to their career best. The chart below shows the full journey.
Note: our database covers currently active players only. Retired players including R. Federer and R. Nadal are not included.
The climb, visualised
Each bar represents one player. The length of the bar shows the total number of places climbed — from their first recorded ranking to their career best. The annotation on each bar shows the starting rank and the career best (e.g. 2129 → #10).
The bars are sorted by starting rank: the top of the chart shows the players who began furthest down the rankings.
The numbers
| Player | Country | Started at | Career best | Places climbed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D. Shapovalov | Canada | 2,129 | 10 | 2,119 |
| S. Tsitsipas | Greece | 2,030 | 3 | 2,027 |
| J. Draper | Great Britain | 1,879 | 4 | 1,875 |
| B. Shelton | United States | 1,829 | 5 | 1,824 |
| T. Fritz | United States | 1,799 | 4 | 1,795 |
| M. Berrettini | Italy | 1,674 | 6 | 1,668 |
| C. Ruud | Norway | 1,645 | 2 | 1,643 |
| J. Sinner | Italy | 1,592 | 1 | 1,591 |
| A. de Minaur | Australia | 1,544 | 6 | 1,538 |
| A. Zverev | Germany | 1,537 | 2 | 1,535 |
D. Shapovalov’s first ranking was 2,129th in the world. He is currently ranked in the top 50, with a career best of 10th. That is a climb of over 2,100 places.
J. Sinner — currently world No.1 — first appeared in our database at 1,592nd in February 2018. He reached No.1 in June 2024. Six years, 1,591 places.
What rank 2,000 actually means
A ranking of 2,000+ means you are competing in ITF Futures events — the lowest rung of professional tennis, with prize money sometimes under $15,000. The vast majority of players who start at this level never reach the top 500, let alone the top 10.
Every player in this table is an exception. They all arrived at that level as teenagers, developed through Challengers, and eventually broke into the top 100 and beyond. The scale of the climb is something the rankings data makes stark in a way that career narratives often don’t.
The youngest starters
Several of these players were minors when they first appeared in the rankings. S. Tsitsipas was 15 when he was first recorded at rank 2,030 in November 2013. D. Shapovalov was 16 when he first appeared at 2,129 in August 2015. J. Sinner was 16 when he entered the database at 1,592 in February 2018.
These are not players who took time off and returned to tennis late. They entered the professional rankings as teenagers and climbed for years before reaching the top.
C. Alcaraz and N. Djokovic
Two of the biggest names are absent from the top 10 of this list because they entered the database at relatively lower starting ranks. C. Alcaraz first appeared at 1,414 in March 2018 — still an enormous climb to No.1, just not the highest starting point in the list. N. Djokovic first appeared in our database at 679 in January 2004, already a notable junior prospect.
Both reached No.1. Djokovic held it for 377 weeks. The climb from 679 to the most dominant ranking record in tennis history is its own story.
All data from the Baseline Rank database, updated weekly from official ATP rankings. Database covers currently active players only. Access full historical ranking data via the Baseline Rank API.