Record breakers: Four Brits into the ATP singles top 50 for the first time
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For the first time since computerised rankings were introduced in 1973, Great Britain have four men inside the ATP singles top 50.
Following strong performances during the hard court season and the US Open, Cam Norrie, Dan Evans, Andy Murray and Jack Draper all feature in the world’s top 50.
LTA Head of Men’s Tennis and Davis Cup captain Leon Smith said: "It’s somewhere I think we should be as a nation. It’s taken us a bit of time to get those sort of numbers, but we want more – not just top 50, but the top 100 and 250 bracket as well. It certain helps as it gives the players looking up at that group some role models and gives them a sense of what is possible.
"The Davis Cup squad for this year’s Finals is one of the strongest we’ve had and that’s without two or three others that could have been here as well, but that’s definitely a positive."
Norrie and Evans have both been stalwarts inside the top 50 over the last few years and have both had strong results so far in 2022. Now at a career high of world No.8, Norrie has doubled his ATP title tally to four, having lifted trophies at Delray Beach and Lyon. He famously captured the world’s attention with a semi-final run at Wimbledon back in July.
Evans enjoyed a successful start to the season – unbeaten at the ATP Cup, a semi-final in Sydney and a champion at the Rothesay Open Nottingham – but has really come into his own on the US hard court swing. He reached the semi-finals at the ATP Masters in Montreal, beating Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz along the way, and made the third round at the US Open.
Murray returned to the top 50 earlier this year for the first time since 2016, having finished runner-up in Sydney and on the grass in Stuttgart. Following a third round performance at the US Open, Murray is now up to No.43 in the world.
Breaking into the top 50 for the first time in his career is 20-year-old Draper, off the back of a breakout year. Having claimed four ATP Challenger titles to start the season, the now world No.46 beat Jenson Brooksby and Diego Schwartzman to reach the semi-final at the Rothesay International Eastbourne, and put in a stunning performance to progress through qualifying to make the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters Montreal. Recently at the US Open, he knocked out world No.8 Felix Auger-Aliassime before having to retire against semi-finalist Karen Khachanov in round three.
Norrie, Evans and Murray will join top three doubles stars Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski in Glasgow this week as part of the Great Britain Davis Cup squad for the Finals group stages.
