BREAKING NEWS: Djokovic UNDER SIEGE and Faces Criticism as Young Guns Auger-Aliassime & Shelton Lead SHOCKING Takeover of World No. 3
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are comfortably the top two in the ATP Rankings, but the battle for third place is heating up with several players in the running to claim the spot after next year’s Australian Open.
Six-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz finished as the year-end No 1 as he held off the charge of Sinner, ending the year on 12,050 points with the Italian 550 points adrift in second place following his undefeated title run at the ATP Finals.
There is a massive gap to the chasing pack as Alexander Zverev is 6,340 points behind Sinner while the likes of Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton are all within 1,200 points of the German.
With players having to defend a lot of points during the first few weeks of the 2026 season there will no doubt be some changes to the top 10 and, who knows, we might even have a new No 3.
ATP Rankings Season-Ending Top 20
1. Carlos Alcaraz Spain – 12,050
2. Jannik Sinner Italy – 11,500
3. Alexander Zverev Germany – 5,160
4. Novak Djokovic Serbia – 4,830
5. Felix Auger-Aliassime Canada – 4,245
6. Taylor Fritz United States – 4,135
7. Alex de Minaur Australia – 4,135
8. Lorenzo Musetti Italy – 4,040
9. Ben Shelton United States – 3,970
10. Jack Draper Great Britain – 2,990
Sinner faces an uphill task to replace Alcaraz after the Australian Open as he is the defending champion so will drop 2,000 points at the start of the tournament while the Spaniard will defend only 400 points.
ATP Features
How quickly could Jannik Sinner replace Carlos Alcaraz as world No 1 in 2026?
Why Jannik Sinner’s 2024 season overshadows Carlos Alcaraz’s 2025
Both players only competed at the Australian Open during the first month of the 2025 season, but the Italian is assured of being at least No 2 in the rankings after the season-opening Grand Slam.
So let’s look at the battle for No 3.
Alexander Zverev
The German is in danger of slipping down the rankings as he has 1,355 points to defend from the 2025 United Cup (55) and his runners-up finish at Melbourne Park (1,300). He will again play those two events in 2026 so will need to have a deep run at both events and hope his rivals falter.
Novak Djokovic
The 24-time Grand Slam winner also played only two tournaments in January (Brisbane International and Australian Open) and has 850 points to defend as he reached the semi-final in Melbourne.
The Serbian is primed to move ahead of Zverev unless the German replicates his 2026 Australian Open performance, while he is yet to confirm if he will play any warm-up events before the major.
Djokovic, of course, has made it clear that the rankings race is no longer important to him, hence he only plays the biggest events on the calendar.
Felix Auger-Aliassime
The Canadian was one of the standout players during the final few months of the 2025 campaign as he surged to a new career-high of No 5 on the back of finishing runner-up at the Paris Masters and reaching the semi-final of the ATP Finals.
Auger-Aliassime will defend 355 points early next year as Canada lost early at the United Cup (55), won the Adelaide International (250) and lost in the second round at the Australian Open (50).
If he reaches the quarter-final at Melbourne next year, he will already be up on his 2025 tally so he is one of the favourites to take third place.
Taylor Fritz
The American is also in a decent position as he will drop 385 points after leading the United States to glory at the United Cup (295) before losing in the third round of the Australian Open (100).
Fritz has peaked at No 4 in the ATP Rankings, but No 3 will be waving at him Down Under.
Alex de Minaur
The Australian has 455 points to defend after his United Cup (55) and Australian Open (400) appearances in 2025.
De Minauar will again feature at those tournaments, but he will need a deeper run at both events to get to No 3.
Lorenzo Musetti
Although Musetti is 1,120 points behind Zverev, he is in a good position as he will drop only 150 points in the first month of the season after early defeats at the Hong Kong Open and Australian Open in 2025.
However, the Italian doesn’t have a good track record at the Australian Open as he is yet to make it past the third round.
Ben Shelton
Shelton briefly cracked the top five in 2025, but finished at No 9 after a disappointing ATP Finals campaign.
The American has a tough ask as he reached the semi-final of the Australian Open in 2025 so will drop 800 points, but the good news is he doesn’t have any other points to defend as he lost early in Auckland.
Leave a Reply