ATP 2016 Year-end Top 100 Predictions

For the fifth year in a row, I have predicted what I think the year-end top 100 will be, but for the first time I am being joined in this journey. Kevin Craig (@KCraig_Tennis) from tennisfansusa.blogspot.com has also put together his own predictions for the top 100. Here are our predictions with analysis at the bottom.

Here are the lists: Kevin Craig	Jared Pine
1. Novak Djokovic	Novak Djokovic
2. Andy Murray	Andy Murray
3. Rafael Nadal	Rafael Nadal
4. Stan Wawrinka	Kei Nishikori
5. Milos Raonic	Stan Wawrinka
6. Roger Federer	Tomas Berdych
7. Kei Nishikori	Roger Federer
8. John Isner	Milos Raonic
9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Marin Cilic
10. Tomas Berdych	Bernard Tomic
11. David Ferrer	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
12. Grigor Dimitrov	Grigor Dimitrov
13. Kevin Anderson	Dominic Thiem
14. Jack Sock	Kevin Anderson
15. Domonic Thiem	John Isner
16. Bernard Tomic	David Goffin
17. Marin Cilic	David Ferrer
18. Nick Kyrgios	Jack Sock
19. David Goffin	Gael Monfils
20. Roberto Bautista Agut	Gilles Simon
21. Steve Johnson	Steve Johnson
22. Richard Gasquet	Richard Gasquet
23. Vasek Pospisil	Nick Kyrgios
24. Fabio Fognini	Benoit Paire
25. Gael Monfils	Viktor Troicki
26. Benoit Paire	Jeremy Chardy
27. Borna Coric	Alexandr Dolgopolov
28. Donald Young	Jiri Vesely
29. Joao Sousa	Roberto Bautista Agut
30. Marcos Baghdatis	Aljaz Bedene
31. Feliciano Lopez	Borna Coric
32. Jiri Vesely	Martin Klizan
33. Gilles Simon	Joao Sousa
34. Jeremy Chardy	Fabio Fognini
35. Viktor Troicki	Vasek Pospisil
36. Ivo Karlovic	Leonardo Mayer
37. Fernando Verdasco	Thomaz Bellucci
38. Juan Monaco	Pablo Cuevas
39. Sam Groth	Adrian Mannarino
40. Aljaz Bedene	Jerzy Janowicz
41. Pablo Carreno Busta	Hyeon Chung
42. Alex Dolgopolov	Donald Young
43. Thomaz Bellucci	Federico Delbonis
44. Martin Klizan	Feliciano Lopez
45. Ernests Gulbis	Sam Querrey
46. Leonardo Mayer	Pablo Carreno Busta
47. Denis Kudla	Denis Kudla
48. Andreas Seppi	Ivo Karlovic
49. Victor Estrella Burgos	Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
50. Sam Querrey	Alexander Zverev
51. Alex Zverev	Andreas Seppi
52. Diego Schwartzman	Lucas Pouille
53. Phillip Kohlschreiber	Philipp Kohlschreiber
54. Pablo Andujar	Ernests Gulbis
55. Lucas Pouille	Nicolas Almagro
56. Nicolas Almagro	Thanasi Kokkinakis
57. Thanasi Kokkinakis	Sam Groth
58. Hyeon Chung	Denis Istomin
59. Lukas Rosol	Fernando Verdasco
60. Gilles Muller	Gilles Muller
61. Santiago Giraldo	Mikhail Kukushkin
62. Jerzy Janowicz	Juan Monaco
63. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez	Yuki Bhambri
64. Guido Pella	Diego Schwartzman
65. Ryan Harrison	Jared Donaldson
66. Teymuraz Gabashvili	Yoshihito Nishioka
67. Andreas Haider-Maurer	Dusan Lajovic
68. Robin Haase	Ricardas Berankis
69. Simone Bolelli	Elias Ymer
70. Rajeev Ram	Inigo Cervantes
71. Nicolas Mahut	Albert Ramos
72. Ricardas Berankis	Santiago Giraldo
73. Tommy Robredo	Damir Dzumhur
74. Denis Istomin	Kyle Edmund
75. Mischa Zverev	Robin Haase
76. Adrian Mannarino	Andrey Kuznetsov
77. Mikhail Kukushkin	Andreas Haider-Mauerer
78. Ivan Dodig	Pablo Andujar
79. Pablo Cuevas	Filip Krajinovic
80. Andrey Kuznetsov	Marcos Baghdatis
81. Kyle Edmund	Teymuraz Gabashvili
82. Ruben Bemelmans	Lukas Rosol
83. Federico Delbonis	Simone Bolelli
84. Yuki Bhambri	Kimmer Coppejans
85. Inigo Cervantes	Ryan Harrison
86. Taylor Fritz	Tommy Robredo
87. Sergiy Stakhovsky	Taro Daniel
88. Elias Ymer	Marco Cecchinato
89. James Duckworth	Austin Krajicek
90. Austin Krajicek	Illya Marchenko
91. Yoshihito Nishioka	Bjorn Fratangelo
92. Mikhail Youzhny	Andrey Rublev
93. John Millman	Matthew Ebden
94. Andrey Rublev	Jan-Lennard Struff
95. Matt Ebden	Lukas Lacko
96. Paolo Lorenzi	Evgeny Donskoy
97. Albert Ramos-Vinolas	Taylor Fritz
98. Daniel Munoz de la Nava	James Duckworth
99. Jared Donaldson	Nikoloz Basilashvili
100. Dusan Lajovic	Laslo Djere

Kevin and I have no disagreements in the top three. Djokovic, Murray, and Nadal have been three over the best players in tennis over the last decade and there is nothing to suggest that will change this year. The first major difference comes with Isner, who I have at No. 15 while Kevin places the American giant at No. 8. I also have significantly less faith in Ferrer for this season, but we both agreed that Dimitrov will make a comeback of sorts in 2016 and finish at No. 12.

I also have Tomic finishing in the top 10, but Kevin has the Australian down at No. 16 just ahead of Cilic, who is No. 9 on my list.  At the bottom, both of us have a Serb, but I went with the younger Laslo Djere.

Here is a look at our Americans in the top 100:

Kevin Craig	Jared Pine
8. John Isner	15. John Isner
14. Jack Sock	18. Jack Sock
21. Steve Johnson	21. Steve Johnson
28. Donald Young	42. Donald Young
47. Denis Kudla	45. Sam Querrey
50. Sam Querrey	47. Denis Kudla
65. Ryan Harrison	65. Jared Donaldson
70. Rajeev Ram	85. Ryan Harrison
86. Taylor Fritz	89. Austin Krajicek
90. Austin Krajicek	91. Bjorn Fratangelo
99. Jared Donaldson	97. Taylor Fritz

Neither of us have Tim Smyczek, Frances Tiafoe, or Dennis Novikov in our top 100. That could definitely come back to bite us.

Apart from the players already mentioned Kevin put a lot of faith in: Nick Kyrgios, Roberto Bautista Agut, Vasek Pospisil, Fabio Fognini, Marcos Baghdatis, Juan Monaco and Nicolas Mahut.

Meanwhile, I put a lot of confidence in: Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Martin Klizan, Yoshihito Nishioka, Filip Krajinovic and Damir Dzumhur

We'll revisit this in 11 months. It will be interesting to see whose predictions are closer to reality in the end.