Thiem, Baez, and Thompson lead rankings risers of the week

The battle between Dominic Thiem and Sebastian Baez in the final of the Kitzbühel Open on Saturday was also a battle of the two biggest ATP ranking risers of the week. In the end, Baez decisively took the Kitzbühel title over Thiem 6-3 6-1. But Thiem still made the highest leap in the top 100 rankings going from number 116 to 84.

Baez took the next highest jump up the rankings moving 30 points from 72 to 42. Winning Kitzbühel was a bit of a surprise for the 22-year-old Argentine as he had only won one match since late May. This is his second title of the year on clay, though.

He is a far better clay court player than any other surface (his career record on clay is 50-52, for instance, while his record on hard courts is an awful 6-23). But Baez certainly was not the betting favorite to win Kitzbühel and with the clay court season done for now, Baez will likely only fall in the rankings the rest of the year.

Biggest rankings risers include Dominic Thiem and Sebastian Baez

Thiem, though, was ranked as high as number 3 in 2020 so he is clearly capable, if healthy, of playing at a consistently high level. He has also won six titles on hard courts so he could be a dangerous player by the time the US Open starts in late August. He also won the US Open in 2020, so he has the confidence that comes with high-level experience entering the next major.

Australian Jordan Thompson had the third-best rise of the week as he moved up 16 spots to 55 (Baez actually jumped Thompson as last week Baez was ranked 72 and Thompson was 71). Thompson hasn’t won a tournament ever, but he did reach the quarters at the Citi Open last week, though, which is where his points bump came from.

It should also be noted that Nick Kyrgios took a ranking dive this week. He went down 57 spots and is now ranked 92. Dealing with injuries, Kyrgios will likely be outside the top 100 soon.