Former WTA Top 10 analyzes 2024 season in men's tennis

11/27/2024 02:00 PM

The 2024 season ended with two more wins for Jannik Sinner. The world No. 1 – who was the best player of the year by a wide margin over all the others – also won the Nitto ATP Finals and then dragged Italy to their second consecutive success at the Davis Cup Finals.

The Italian ace has been practically unstoppable in the last twelve months, in which he has won eight titles and suffered only six losses (with a win percentage of over 90%). The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria became the first player since Roger Federer in 2005 to win at least one set in all matches played this season.

Three of the defeats suffered by Jannik in 2024 were inflicted on him by his great rival Carlos Alcaraz, who has shown again this year that he can reach truly impressive peaks. The 21-year-old from Murcia became the youngest ever to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season, but he did not have the same consistency as Sinner.

The young Spaniard has had several ups and downs during 2024, which is why he has been overtaken by Sascha Zverev in second place in the ATP rankings. The German champion did not have the same peaks as Sinner and Alcaraz and failed to win a Grand Slam title, but he won two Masters 1000 titles and made it to at least the round of 16 in all 1000 played this year.

There is no doubt that Sinner, Zverev and Alcaraz were the three best players in 2024. All the other players struggled for different reasons. Daniil Medvedev has experienced the worst season since becoming a top player, failing to win a single title from January until today.

Novak DJokovic showed the first signs of decline, but saved his season with a resounding triumph at the Paris Olympics. Andrey Rublev had many personal problems, while Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime disappointed and lost several positions in the ATP ranking. In 2024 there was the rise of Taylor Fritz, who reached the final at the US Open and ATP Finals becoming the new world number 4.

On the latest edition of ‘The Rennae Stubbs Tennis podcast’, former WTA Top 10 Andrea Petkovic commented on the 2024 season: "I was looking at the top 5 today, and what really stood out to me, so Taylor is No. 4, Daniil Medvedev is No. 5, and they are at 5,000 points, roughly. One is 5,100 and the other is 5,030 or something. Right? And then, Carlos and Zverev, are around 7,000 points and Jannik has almost 12,000. So this is what I'm saying. I do think Carlos, Sascha and Jannik Sinner have set themselves apart from the pack.”

She also added: "The points are telling the story because 2,000 points between Carlos and Taylor and Daniil, 2,000 points is winning a Slam tournament and Carlos and Sascha lose first round, which won't happen. That's a big difference.”

Fritz has been one of the biggest surprises this season. The American ace has shown that he has the right weapons to win big titles in the coming years and has made significant improvements in his game. Taylor's backhand has improved a lot compared to last year, as well as his mental strength in the most important matches.

It is no coincidence that the American ace has defeated Alexander Zverev in the last four clashes, twice in Grand Slam tournaments (at Wimbledon and the US Open). If he hadn't faced Sinner, it is very likely that Fritz would have won at least one title between the US Open and the ATP Finals. The next goal of the world number 4 is to improve his game on red clay and grass as well to get closer to the top three players in the world.

“A little bit surprised yeah, I feel like normally the stretch where I pick up a lot of points is that Indian Wells and Miami stretch, but I wasn’t playing my best tennis at that point,” Fritz said about his amazing year.

“I feel like the clay court season is where I started to pick up some momentum and I was feeling really good about my game.

So I don’t think it matters about the surface but just where I’m at with my game and how I’m feeling mentally and how I’m feeling extra locked in and motivated and for me it just came at that part of the season” – he concluded.

The 2025 Australian Open will tell us whether these hierarchies will be confirmed or not, but in the meantime the players will have a few weeks off.