Monday, February 24, 2014

2/24/2014 YTD Country Power Rankings

These are the rankings of how each country has done since the end of the 2013 tennis season. Rankings are based mainly on the year-to-date ranking of the individuals from that country from before Acapulco, Sao Paulo, and Dubai began.

1. Spain - Not surprisingly, Spain has dethroned Switzerland thanks to Rafael Nadal's win in Rio and David Ferrer's win in Buenos Aires. Spain continues to be the most dominant tennis country in the world with three players in the top 20 of the year-to-date rankings.

2. Switzerland - After not having a single player from its country play a tour-level match since my last rankings two weeks ago, Switzerland has dropped its No. 1 ranking. Still, it did avoid falling behind France to No. 3 in the rankings, but it would take an incredible effort at Indian Wells to avoid letting that happen.

3. France - The only country that stayed where it was in the top five, France let a home tournament slip to Latvia, when Ernests Gulbis defeated two top 10 Frenchmen in Marseille. However, Gael Monfils did get some company towards the top of the year-to-date rankings with better representation at the top of the sport from France.

4. United States - John Isner and red-hot Steve Johnson both reached the semifinals of Delray Beach. Match that with Michael Russell's quarterfinal in Memphis and the US slides ahead of Germany into No. 4. Still waiting for better results for Sam Querrey and Ryan Harrison.

5. Germany - Peter Gojowczyk and Florian Mayer, the top two Germans in 2014, didn't gain any ranking points in the last two weeks. Despite a few solid wins from Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany wasn't able to hold onto its edge over the US.

6. Czech Republic - The Czechs improve to No. 6 thanks to Tomas Berdych's first title since 2012. The Czech No. 1 hasn't received much help from his countrymen though.

7. Croatia - Marin Cilic is on fire. He almost single-handily improved Croatia seven spots, earning 550 rankings points with a final in Rotterdam and a title in Delray Beach. He has now won 14-of-15 matches since the Australian Open.

8. Argentina - The South American country is well-represented, Juan Martin del Potro's slow start in 2014 has been costly. The Argentine's dropped two spots, but they should be back into the top six by year's end if not top five.

9. Italy - Fabio Fogini is carrying Italy like Sam carried Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. He won six matches in the last two weeks and ranks seventh in the year-to-date rankings, which is good enough for Italy to earn a spot in the top 10.

10. Japan - The blossoming East Asian tennis country may have moved down a spot, but all seven of its top players remained in the top 140 of the YTD rankings. Kei Nishikori will need some help if Japan wants to stay in the top 10.

11. Australia - As I said in the previous rankings, the farther we get from January, the lower the Australians go. They are now down three spots, and we are just two more weeks separated from the Happy Slam.

12. Serbia - It could be worse. If it weren't for a good pair of weeks from Ilija Bozoljac, Serbia would be No. 14. If Novak Djokovic doesn't win Dubai, it could be time to worry for Serbian tennis fans.

13. Russia - There's nothing new from the Russian Federation. Still just waiting for Mikhail Youzhny and Alex Bogomolov to start winning again.

14. Great Britain - The Brits dropped three spots as Andy Murray continues to struggle.

15. Ukraine - Alexander Dolgopolov reached his first final since 2012 Washington D.C. That boosted Ukraine five spots.

16. Colombia - Not much activity from the Colombians during the Golden Swing. This is why Bogota should be held in February on clay.

17. Latvia - One is the loneliest number. Latvia is the highest country with only one player in the top 300 in YTD rankings. At least Ernests Gulbis is the No. 1. Even Benoit Paire has surpassed him in broken rackets.

18. Netherlands - Robin Haase decided to skip his home country's tournament to play in South America, which didn't pay off to well. He earned a total of just 45 ranking points in two weeks' worth of work.

19. Bulgaria - Grigor Dimitrov lost to Gulbis in Rotterdam round of 16 as Bulgaria drops one spot.

20. Chinese Taipei - Yen-Hsun Lu reached the semifinals in Memphis, but Tsung-Hua Yang's YTD ranking dropped to 143, causing Taiwan's ranking to drop to No. 20.

21. Kazakhstan
22. India
23. Canada
24. Slovakia
25. South Africa
26. Brazil
27. Poland
28. Austria
29. Finland
30. Slovenia
31. Romania
32. Uzbekistan
33. Lithuania
34. Israel
35. Portugal
36. Dominican Republic
37. Bosnia & Herzegovina
38. Hungary
39. Tunisia
40. Luxembourg
41. Georgia
42. Belarus

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