23 votes now in. I will pop up scores on the doors this evening. Suffice to say it is close.

Hopefully a few more votes will come in - it was a quick start but slow today!

Sorry to Katie, Henry and Sonay - all very worthy but I cant get beyond Jake.

Really, it is far too difficult to separate any of these players. They are all amazing. I went for Sonay in the end. A triumph over adversity.

JonH comes home wrote:

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Up to 28 votes and still v tight as expected!

I voted for Henry but came across this today that might have made me vote for Jake - Jeff Sackmann is doing a regular email newsletter with trivia stats and data. Once of the things he included this week was the list of players who have risen the most in one season to get into the top 100, ever. The list is below - Jake features as the 6th highest rise ever into the top 100 - think about that, that is impressive.

I am sure other folks can come up with stats to support their choice, and I would welcome it - no harm trying to persuade other voters to go with your preferred player - but Jake wasn't my choice, but may well have been if I had been aware of this and other stats

Kenneth Carlsen 766 places to 69 in 1992
Leonardo Lavalle 658 places to 87 in 1985
Guillermo Coria 634 places to 88 in 2000
Pablo Carreno Busta 590 places to 64 in 2013
Marco Chiudinelli 549 places to 56 in 2009

JAKE FEARNLEY 546 PLACES TO 99 IN 2024

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Jake actually reached a CH during 2024 of 86. Not sure if Jeff Sackmann is using year end ranking for all the players, so others may also have had higher CHs during the year, but it's possible Jake should actually be in fifth place in this list. 

Either way, very impressive. Thanks for sharing the stat.

Tanaqui wrote:

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JonH comes home wrote:

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Up to 28 votes and still v tight as expected!

I voted for Henry but came across this today that might have made me vote for Jake - Jeff Sackmann is doing a regular email newsletter with trivia stats and data. Once of the things he included this week was the list of players who have risen the most in one season to get into the top 100, ever. The list is below - Jake features as the 6th highest rise ever into the top 100 - think about that, that is impressive.

I am sure other folks can come up with stats to support their choice, and I would welcome it - no harm trying to persuade other voters to go with your preferred player - but Jake wasn't my choice, but may well have been if I had been aware of this and other stats

Kenneth Carlsen 766 places to 69 in 1992
Leonardo Lavalle 658 places to 87 in 1985
Guillermo Coria 634 places to 88 in 2000
Pablo Carreno Busta 590 places to 64 in 2013
Marco Chiudinelli 549 places to 56 in 2009

JAKE FEARNLEY 546 PLACES TO 99 IN 2024

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Jake actually reached a CH during 2024 of 86. Not sure if Jeff Sackmann is using year end ranking for all the players, so others may also have had higher CHs during the year, but it's possible Jake should actually be in fifth place in this list. 

Either way, very impressive. Thanks for sharing the stat.

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 Good shout - It was year end rankings he used, he says that in his email -here is the email section below: others on the list include Agassi and Sinner below Jake!

From Jeff Sackmann

"A narrower question, then: Which players have jumped at least 100 ranking places in a single year, ending with their first year-end top-100 finish?

Here are the biggest single-year improvements that ended with a top-100 debut:

Player               Year  Prev YE  New YE  Jump  

Kenneth Carlsen      1992      835      69   766  

Leonardo Lavalle     1985      745      87   658  

Guillermo Coria      2000      722      88   634  

Pablo Carreno Busta  2013      654      64   590  

Marco Chiudinelli    2009      605      56   549  

Jacob Fearnley       2024      645      99   546  

Josef Cihak          1987      613      77   536  

Andreas Vinciguerra  1999      633      98   535  

Andre Agassi         1986      618      91   527  

Alex Michelsen       2023      599      97   502  

Arnaud Di Pasquale   1998      572      81   491  

Radek Stepanek       2002      542      63   479  

Ben Shelton          2022      573      96   477  

Fritz Buehning       1979      555      81   474  

 

Jannik Sinner        2019      551      78   473

Much as it is great to see Jake and all the others' rises into the top 100, as I have argued before Jake was not a 'true' WR 645 player at the end of 2023, given his very good college background and limited tour appearances. And I would guess most of the others will have had higher 'true' rankings. It records that they had a 2024 top 100 ranking year, and with it being 12 month rankings these previous end of 2023 rankings didn't effect this (;other than yes lower starting rankings make entries more difficult ), however "true' these rankings were anyway.

Now give me a player that was ranked about WR 500 on a full schedule, basically fit and well, and rises into the top 100 in a year and that really would be "Wow!!!" - but whether that applies to anyone really, without going through the list, I don't know

I'm not meaning to a party pooper but the list is what is, an official WR increase into the top 100 list and very interesting for that. But it is a list of players with many different circumstances and to be taken as that. It is not an ordered list of tennis improvement

Hopefully Jeff does add that context.

you are a party pooper!!

Here is the full text from Jeff - specifically, it records their FIRST ever top 100 position as opposed to players bouncing back after injury

Joao Fonseca ended 2024 ranked 145th in the world. My Elo ratings put him 45th, and after the Canberra title last week, his place on that list climbed to 27th.
As with many trivia questions, we'll need to be a bit more specific. Tons of players move up 100 places each year, but going from 845th to 745th--while impressive!--is presumably not the sort of thing we're looking for. Same thing with injury recoveries. While Pablo Carreno Busta finished 2024 ranked 196th, it won't be momentous if the former top-tenner bounces back to the top 100.
A narrower question, then: Which players have jumped at least 100 ranking places in a single year, ending with their first year-end top-100 finish?
Here are the biggest single-year improvements that ended with a top-100 debut:
Player Year Prev YE New YE Jump
Kenneth Carlsen 1992 835 69 766
Leonardo Lavalle 1985 745 87 658
Guillermo Coria 2000 722 88 634
Pablo Carreno Busta 2013 654 64 590
Marco Chiudinelli 2009 605 56 549
Jacob Fearnley 2024 645 99 546
Josef Cihak 1987 613 77 536
Andreas Vinciguerra 1999 633 98 535
Andre Agassi 1986 618 91 527
Alex Michelsen 2023 599 97 502
Arnaud Di Pasquale 1998 572 81 491
Radek Stepanek 2002 542 63 479
Ben Shelton 2022 573 96 477
Fritz Buehning 1979 555 81 474
Jannik Sinner 2019 551 78 473
Pablo made it! A few other names there you might recognize, too.
If Fonseca skips forward 100 spots, he'll do something that sets him apart from everyone on that list: He'll leap into the top 50. Still, a 100-spot move is hardly historic:
Player Year Prev YE New YE Jump
Marc Rosset 1989 474 45 429
Ronald Agenor 1985 418 49 369
Goran Ivanisevic 1989 371 40 331
Vincent Van Patten 1979 374 43 331
Sergi Bruguera 1989 333 26 307
Juan Carlos Ferrero 1999 346 42 304
Jim Courier 1988 346 43 303
Horst Skoff 1986 299 42 257
John McEnroe 1977 264 18 246
Ulf Stenlund 1986 274 34 240
Mark Philippoussis 1995 274 38 236
Peter Lundgren 1985 265 31 234
Ricardo Cano 1975 274 42 232
Jack Draper 2022 265 42 223
Mel Purcell 1980 245 27 218
About 80 players have made a 100-plus-spot jump into the top 50. It's harder to do so now than it was in the days of McEnroe or Courier, but men still manage it with some regularity. Fonseca will have to settle for breaking other records.