The PIF ATP rankings[1] are the Association of Tennis Professionals' (ATP) merit-based system for determining the rankings in men's tennis. The top-ranked player is the player who, over the previous 52 weeks, has garnered the most ranking points on the ATP Tour. Points are awarded based on how far a player advances in tournaments and the category of those tournaments. The ATP has used a computerized system for determining the rankings since August 23, 1973.[2] Starting in 1979, an updated rankings list is released at the beginning of each week. Since 1973, 29 players have been ranked No. 1 by the ATP,[3] [4] of which 18 have been year-end No. 1.
Since the introduction of the rankings, the method used to calculate a player's ranking points has changed several times. As of 2019, the rankings are calculated by totaling the points a player wins in his best eighteen tournaments, subject to certain restrictions. For top players the counting tournaments are the four Grand Slam tournaments, the eight mandatory ATP Masters tournaments, the non-mandatory ATP Masters 1000 event in Monte-Carlo, the player's best four eligible ATP Tour 500 tournaments and his best two results from ATP Tour 250 tournaments. Lower-ranked players who are not eligible for some or all of the top tournaments may include additional ATP 500 and ATP 250 events, and also ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Men's Circuit tournaments. Players who qualify for the year-end ATP Finals also include any points gained from the tournament in their total, increasing the number of tournaments counted to 19.[5]
1973–1982; ATP ranking's average system as introduced on 23 August 1973.[6]
1983–1989; ATP ranking's average system with bonus points for beating top ranked players.
1990–1999; ‘Best of 14’ ranking system, where a player’s best 14 results in the events counted.[7]
2000–2008; ‘Best of 18’ ranking system, where a player’s best 18 results in the events counted.
2009–2019; A new point scale for ATP rankings to the ‘Best of 18’ ranking system.[8]
2020–2021; ‘Best of 24-month’ ranking system from Aug 23, 2020 to Aug 9, 2021 for the pandemic-impacted seasons.[9] 2022–present; Normal ATP’s ranking system over a 52-week period restored since August 2021.[10]
Novak Djokovic has spent the most weeks as world No. 1, a record total 428 weeks.[11] [12] Roger Federer has a record 237 consecutive weeks at No. 1.[13] Djokovic also holds the record for the most year-end No. 1 finishes, achieving the feat for eight years (including the pandemic-shortened season[14]).[15] Pete Sampras held the year-end No. 1 ranking for a record six consecutive years.[16] [17]
Carlos Alcaraz is both the youngest world No. 1 (19 years, 4 months),[18] and the youngest year-end No. 1 (19 years, 7 months).[19] Djokovic is both the oldest world No. 1 (37 years and 16 days)[20] and the oldest year-end No. 1 .[21]
Federer is the player with the longest time span (14 years) between his first and most recent dates at No. 1 (February 2004–June 2018),[22] while Rafael Nadal is the only player to hold the top ranking in three different decades, spanning 11 years and 5 months (2008–2020). Djokovic has the longest time span (12 years) between his first and last year-end No. 1 finish (2011–2023), and is the only player to be ranked No. 1 at least once in a year for 13 different years.[23]
Two players, Ivan Lendl and Marcelo Ríos, have reached No. 1 without previously having won a major singles title.[24] Lendl reached No. 1 on February 21, 1983, but did not win his first Grand Slam title until the 1984 French Open.[25] Ríos reached No. 1 on March 30, 1998, but retired without ever having won a Grand Slam title, making him the only No. 1 player with that distinction.[26] [27]
Federer holds the record of wire-to-wire No. 1 for three consecutive calendar years. Since 1973 when the ATP rankings started, there have been 13 years in which one player held the top spot for the entire year: Jimmy Connors in 1975, 1976, and 1978; Lendl in 1986 and 1987; Pete Sampras in 1994 and 1997; Hewitt in 2002; Federer in 2005, 2006, and 2007; and Djokovic in 2015 and 2021. In contrast, 1999 saw five players hold the No. 1 ranking (the most in any single year): Sampras, Carlos Moyá, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Andre Agassi, and Patrick Rafter.
Prior to 2009, Federer accumulated the most year-end ATP ranking points in any season, with 8,370 points in 2006. Since the introduction of a new point scale for the ATP rankings from 2009, Djokovic achieved the same feat with 16,585 ranking points in 2015 season. Djokovic also holds the record of 16,950 ranking points on 6 June 2016, the most ATP points ever accumulated by any player.[28]
John McEnroe held the No. 1 ranking a record 14 times, Sampras and Djokovic are the only two other players to have held it 10 or more times, with 11 and 10 stints respectively. Rafter spent the least time at number 1 (one week).
The statistics are updated only when the ATP website revises its rankings (usually on Monday mornings except when tournament finals are postponed).
| No. | Player | Start date[29] | End date | Weeks | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 40 | |||
| 2 | 8 | 8 | |||
| 3 | 160 | 160 | |||
| 4 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 84 | 244 | ||||
| 6 | 7 | ||||
| 7 | 251 | ||||
| 34 | 41 | ||||
| 5 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 20 | 61 | ||||
| 1 | 4 | ||||
| 46 | 107 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 109 | ||||
| 58 | 64 | ||||
| 7 | 258 | ||||
| 1 | 65 | ||||
| 1 | 259 | ||||
| 11 | 76 | ||||
| 1 | 260 | ||||
| 1 | 77 | ||||
| 2 | 262 | ||||
| 6 | 11 | 11 | |||
| 3 | 265 | ||||
| 1 | 78 | ||||
| 3 | 268 | ||||
| 17 | 95 | ||||
| 6 | 17 | ||||
| 4 | 99 | ||||
| 9 | 26 | ||||
| 13 | 112 | ||||
| 1 | 27 | ||||
| 3 | 115 | ||||
| 5 | 32 | ||||
| 53 | 168 | ||||
| 1 | 33 | ||||
| 2 | 170 | ||||
| 157 | 190 | ||||
| 7 | 20 | 20 | |||
| 80 | 270 | ||||
| 8 | 24 | 24 | |||
| 9 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 20 | 44 | ||||
| 9 | 12 | ||||
| 22 | 66 | ||||
| 10 | 6 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 69 | ||||
| 22 | 28 | ||||
| 3 | 72 | ||||
| 27 | 55 | ||||
| 11 | 19 | 19 | |||
| 3 | 58 | ||||
| 82 | 101 | ||||
| 12 | 30 | 30 | |||
| 12 | 113 | ||||
| 2 | 32 | ||||
| 13 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 3 | 116 | ||||
| 5 | 6 | ||||
| 102 | 218 | ||||
| 14 | 4 | 4 | |||
| 15 | 233 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | ||||
| 29 | 262 | ||||
| 15 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 5 | 267 | ||||
| 16 | 6 | 6 | |||
| 3 | 270 | ||||
| 3 | 35 | ||||
| 17 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 6 | 276 | ||||
| 52 | 87 | ||||
| 10 | 286 | ||||
| 18 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 19 | 8 | 8 | |||
 | 4 | 6 | |||
| 5 | 13 | ||||
| 3 | 9 | ||||
| 30 | 43 | ||||
| 20 | 75 | 75 | |||
| 2 | 89 | ||||
| 5 | 80 | ||||
| 12 | 101 | ||||
| 21 | 8 | 8 | |||
| 22 | 13 | 13 | |||
| 23 | 237 | 237 | |||
| 24 | 46 | 46 | |||
| 48 | 285 | ||||
| 56 | 102 | ||||
| 25 | 53 | 53 | |||
| 17 | 302 | ||||
| 48 | 101 | ||||
| 39 | 141 | ||||
| 122 | 223 | ||||
| 26 | 41 | 41 | |||
| 26 | 167 | ||||
| 6 | 308 | ||||
| 6 | 173 | ||||
| 1 | 309 | ||||
| 4 | 177 | ||||
| 1 | 310 | ||||
| 19 | 196 | ||||
| 52 | 275 | ||||
| 13 | 209 | ||||
| 7 | 282 | ||||
| 22 | |||||
| 79 | 361 | ||||
| 27 | 3 | 3 | |||
| 12 | 373 | ||||
| 13 | 16 | ||||
| 28 | 20 | 20 | |||
| 7 | 380 | ||||
| 2 | 22 | ||||
| 7 | 387 | ||||
| 3 | 25 | ||||
| 2 | 389 | ||||
| 11 | 36 | ||||
| 39 | 428 | ||||
| 29 | present | ||||
Total
Consecutive
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| Year span | Leader | Date achieved | Duration | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973–1975 |  Ilie Năstase | 40 | |||
| 1975–1990 |  Jimmy Connors | 268 | |||
| 1990–1999 | Ivan Lendl | 270 | |||
| 1999–2012 | Pete Sampras | [31] | 286 | ||
| 2012–2021 |  Roger Federer | [32] | 310 | ||
| 2021–present |  Novak Djokovic | [33] | 428 |
The ATP year-end No. 1 (ATP Player of the Year), in recent decades, has been determined as the player who ends the year as world No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Prior to the early 1990s this was not always the case, in some instances the "ATP Player of the Year" and the Year-end No. 1 in the rankings were different players (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1989). Novak Djokovic holds the ATP record of eight year-end No. 1 finishes. Overall, 18 players have achieved the year-end No. 1 ranking, only four of them (Lendl, Federer, Djokovic, Nadal) have done so in non-consecutive years. Six players have stayed at No. 1 in the ATP rankings for every week of the calendar year. Connors and Federer have done so in three years, Connors non-consecutively and Federer consecutively.
