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Tennis 2017: Year in review

Rafael Nadal is the undisputed king of clay courts. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Roar Guru
30th December, 2017
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The 2017 tennis season saw both the men’s and the women’s world number one rankings change hands, with Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep finishing the year in the top spots.

This time last year Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber were the world number ones.

Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev, David Goffin, Jack Sock and Pablo Carreno-Busta all cracked the men’s top ten in 2017, while Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenko, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic did the same in the women’s.

Injury-disrupted seasons saw Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray both drop out of the men’s top 10, falling to 12 and 16 respectively by the end of 2017.

Angelique Kerber struggled for form in 2017 after a stellar 2016 when she won both the Australian and the US opens, dropping to her current ranking of 21, and Serena Williams has dropped to number 22 after an extended layoff for the birth of her first child.

(AFP / Jewel Samad)

Below is the top ten in both the men’s and women’s world rankings at the end of 2017 with the player’s position at the end of 2016 in brackets.

Men’s rankings

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  1. Rafael Nadal – Spain (9)
  2. Roger Federer – Switzerland (16)
  3. Grigor Dimitrov – Bulgaria (17)
  4. Alexander Zverev – Germany (24)
  5. Dominic Thiem – Austria (8)
  6. Marin Cilic – Croatia (6)
  7. David Goffin – Belgium (11)
  8. Jack Sock – USA (23)
  9. Stan Wawrinka – Switzerland (4)
  10. Pablo Carreno-Busta – Spain (30)

Nick Kyrgios is Australia’s highest-ranked male singles player at 21, a drop of eight places from this time last year. Bernard Tomic has tumbled to 140 from 26 a year ago after some indifferent form and a decision to take a break from the tour.

In terms of the men’s grand slam tournaments, old dogs Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer shared the spoils. Federer took his grand slam singles record to 19 titles by winning both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Nadal won both the French and the US opens to take his grand slam singles tally to 16. Incredibly the French title was his tenth victory at Roland Garros. Being five years younger than Federer, he has a chance of surpassing the Swiss master’s all-time Grand Slam singles record if his body holds up.

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Women’s rankings

  1. Simona Halep – Romania (4)
  2. Garbine Muguruza – Spain (7)
  3. Caroline Wozniacki – Denmark (19)
  4. Karolina Pliskova – Czech Republic (6)
  5. Venus Williams – USA (17)
  6. Elina Svitolina – Ukraine (14)
  7. Jelena Ostapenko – Latvia (44)
  8. Caroline Garcia – France (24)
  9. Johanna Konta – Great Britain (10)
  10. Kristina Mladenovic – France (42)
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Ash Barty is Australia’s top-ranked female singles player at 17 after a great year that saw her ranking improve from 271 at the start of 2017.

In the women’s grand slam singles events we had four different winners in 2017. Serena Williams beat her sister Venus at the Australian Open to win her 23rd Grand Slam singles title, surpassing German great Steffi Graf and putting her one short of the all-time record held by Australia’s Margaret Court.

Jelena Ostapenko won her first grand slam singles title at the French Open, Garbine Muguruza her second at Wimbledon, and Sloane Stephens her first at the US Open.

France won the Davis Cup with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Belgium. Australia bowed out 3-2 in the semi-finals against Belgium.

What was your tennis highlight of 2017?

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