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

Peter Gojowczyk: Making a Name for Himself

After Peter Gojowczyk defeated Dustin Brown in a third-set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals in Doha to begin his 2014 campaign, he entered his press conference, where, according to Neil Harman, he told reporters, "Hello everybody. My name is Peter. I'm from Munich."

Entering his first tournament of 2014, the 24-year old German had only made two appearances in the main draw of a grand slam and had only one tour-level victory to his name. After winning his first five matches in Doha, including three in qualifying, and his win over Brown, Gojowczyk had caught the attention of fans in Doha. However it wasn't until the next day that he caught the attention of fans around the tennis world.

Anyone know how to pronounce Peter Gojowczyk?
— Chris P (@scoobschris) January 1, 2014

In his first career tour-level semifinal, Gojowczyk won the first nine points of his first match against world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Gojowczyk took a 3-0 lead, and despite having his break lead taken away, broke again to win the first set 6-4. Although the German eventually lost the match, he earned 102 ranking points that week, which was a personal best.

Peter #Gojowczyk once asked @RafaelNadal for his autograph. They meet in the #Doha SFs. http://t.co/tN8OlisZbc #atp #tennis
— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) January 3, 2014

Gojowczyk: "I met him [Nadal] in the locker room and he said 'congrats Peter' Now I think he knows me and it's great."
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) January 2, 2014 

World No. 162 German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk takes 1st 64 vs. Rafael Nadal in Doha SFs. So that's going on… #ATP
— Erik Gudris (@ATNtennis) January 3, 2014

"It is the best week of my career," he said. "I'm really happy and I hope I learn from it and gain confidence. I have to play qualies in Melbourne on Wednesday, so it's close but it's tough. But I will give my best there."

In Melbourne, Gojowczyk qualified easily, dropping just 15 games in his in three matches. In the main draw, Gojowczyk dropped two narrow tiebreak-sets to start the match against Victor Hanescu, who eventually won the match in straight sets.

Gojowczyk didn't give himself a break as he hopped on a plane and flew to Heilbronn, Germany for a 100k challenger event. There, unseeded Gojowczyk won all five of his matches without dropping a set to claim his second challenger title and first 100k title. When the rankings came out the following Monday, Gojowczyk was featured in the top 100 in the world for the first time in his career at No. 99.

The German is now 14-2 in all matches he has played in 2014, winning 13 of those matches in straight sets, and has a year-to-date ranking of 14 in the world. His 14 wins, including challenger events and qualifying is the most of any tennis player so far in 2014.

@BenRothenberg One of most interesting questions first up for 2014 on men's tour -- how good is Peter Gojowczyk?
— Richard Ingham Evans (@Ringham7) January 11, 2014

14-2 to open the year!!! RT @hotdog6969 Peter GojoWCzyk is the new Heilbronn challenger champion...beats Sijsling 4 and 5.
— Josh Meiseles (@jmeistennis) January 26, 2014

Success hasn't always come so easily for Gojowczyk, who had to wait over eight years after earning a ranking for the first time to reach the top 100. Through the first six years of his professional career, he earned $89,486 in prize money. Gojowczyk, did however, win eight futures events and reached the final in a challenger in Manerbio, Italy as a qualifier in that span.

Gojowczyk has already earned six-figures in just one month this year, while quadrupling his career total in tour level wins. This weekend, he will try to qualify for his first main draw appearance in an ATP World Tour 500 event in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He is the No. 6 seed and will face Adrian Sikora in his first qualifying match as he tries to earn one of four of the remaining spots in the main draw.