The 2026 ATP Tour season gets underway with United Cup action on Friday, and all eyes will be on how the men’s game develops over the coming twelve months.
However, every player will be adapting to a not-insignificant rule change concerning the ATP Rankings, which has already taken effect in the closing stages of 2025.
Here, we look at the change that the ATP Tour has introduced for the coming season, and how it has affected an array of players.
What is the rule change?
Up until the end of the 2025 tennis season, 19 tournaments could officially count towards a player’s official ATP ranking.
These included the four Grand Slam tournaments, all eight mandatory Masters 1000 events, and then the next seven best results a player achieved across the tennis season.
These events include the Monte Carlo Masters — the one non-mandatory Masters 1000 event — and any events from ATP 500, ATP 250, and ATP Challenger levels; the ATP Finals counts as a bonus event for a player’s ranking, should they qualify.
However, heading into the new season, the ATP has introduced a significant change.
From this season onwards, only 18 events will be counted towards a player’s ranking, with only six results being included with the four Grand Slams and eight mandatory Masters events — alongside the ATP Finals, if relevant.
Top 30 players now also only need to commit to four ATP 500 events across the season, down from five in 2025.
Tennis News
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s ‘simply extraordinary’ rivalry hailed by acclaimed coach
How has it affected the top 10 ahead of 2026?
The rule change has come into effect this week (Monday, December 29), and seven players inside the top 10 have dropped points, though no players have moved positions.
World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and world No 2 Jannik Sinner have been unaffected, as has world No 10 Jack Draper.
However, every other player has dropped a small number of points, with one best countable result removed from their ATP Ranking.
World No 3 Alexander Zverev has dropped 50 points, No 4 Novak Djokovic has dropped 10 points, No 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime has dropped 55 points, No 6 Taylor Fritz has dropped 50 points, No 7 Alex de Minaur has dropped 55 points, No Lorenzo Musetti has dropped 50 points, while No 9 Ben Shelton has dropped 10 points.
How has it affected the rest of the ATP Rankings?
The top of the sport has been largely unaffected in terms of player positions at the start of the season, but the further you go down the ATP Rankings, the greater impact you see.
In the top 20, only Jiri Lehecka is affected, with the Czech’s drop of 10 points seeing him fall one place to world No 18 — while Karen Khachanov moves up one position to 17th.
Luciano Darderi and Tallon Griekspoor swap places, with the pair now ranked 25th and 26th, respectively — the only other change inside the top 30.
However, outside of the top 30, there have been some notable moves.
Jaume Munar moves up three places to world No 33 in the ATP Rankings, and Corentin Moutet moves up one place to 34th, with Brandon Nakashima and Stefanos Tsitsipas falling two spots.
Now ranked 35th and 36th in the world, respectively, Nakashima and Tsitsipas — a two-time Grand Slam finalist — face an uphill task to try and secure a seeding for the Australian Open.
The biggest ‘loser’ from a rankings perspective following the rule change is Pablo Carreno Busta, who fell four spots from 89th to 93rd in the world.
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
Read Next: WTA Rankings: Amanda Anisimova reaches new milestone as she moves ahead of Coco Gauff
The post The ATP Rankings rule change that’s seen Djokovic, Zverev & 5 more top-10 stars drop points appeared first on Tennis365.
Leave a Reply