As always, only two weeks of tournaments on the annual tennis calendar precede the Australian Open in 2026. That means there is only one week to work with as players try to secure or improve their seeding for the first Grand Slam of the season.
Here are the top 32 in the ATP rankings heading into next year:
1. Carlos Alcaraz
2. Jannik sinner
3. Alexander Zverev
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Felix Auger-Aliassime
6. Taylor Fritz
7. Alex de Minaur
8. Lorenzo Musetti
9. Ben Shelton
10.Jack Draper
11. Alexander Bublik
12. Casper Ruud
13. Daniil Medvedev
14.Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
15. Holger Rune
16. Andrei Rublev
17. Jiri Lehecka
18. Karen Khachanov
19. Jakub Mensik
20. Tommy Paul
21. Francisco Cerundolo
22. Flavio Cobolli
23. Denis Shapovalov
24. João Fonseca
25. Tallon Greek Spoor
26. Luciano Darderi
27. Cameron Norrie
28. Student Ten
29. Arthur Rinderknech
30. Frances Tiafoe
31. Valentin Vacherot
32. Tomas Machac
Holger Rune obviously won’t play as he suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the fall swing. That means number 33 Brandon Nakashima is currently in position for a spot at Melbourne Park and number 34 Stefanos Tsitsipas is the first man out.
Tsitsipas, Corentin Moutet, Jaume Munar, Ugo Humbert and Alex Michelsen are all within 105 points of Nakashima and have a real chance to move into a seeded spot with a decent opening week in 2026.
The other big race is for a top eight seed. Positions five through nine in the current rankings are incredibly close together, so they all came down to the results of the Nitto ATP Finals. Felix Auger-Aliassime, for example, climbed all the way from number 8 to number 5 simply by reaching the semi-finals. Ben Shelton remained winless in Turin, falling from No. 5 to No. 9. Shelton is just 70 points behind No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti, so the American will be keen to produce a solid result in the first week of next year and get back into the top eight.
In the battle for a place in the top 16, Karen Khachanov is only five points behind Jiri Lehecka. No. No. 19 Jakub Mensik and No. 20 Tommy Paul would need to win a 250 title to break into the top 16 ahead of the Australian Open draw ceremony.
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