Ranking Reaction: Krejcikova mere points away from Top 10 debut

Barbora Krejcikova’s sudden explosion up the WTA rankings has put her about as close as possible to the Top 10, as she climbed from No. 13 to a new career-high of No. 11 on Monday—and is now just two ranking points behind current No. 10 Simona Halep, 4,115 to 4,113.

Her latest upward move came after the 25-year-old won the WTA 250 hard-court stop in Prague, her third title in her last four tournaments. The week before Roland Garros, she won the WTA 250 on clay in Strasbourg, and then went on to win Roland Garros. Krejcikova has now won 20 of her last 21 matches.

“It’s easier to play and fight when there are people—Czech people,” Krejcikova told WTATour.com after winning the title in Prague on Sunday. "Normally, if it wasn’t in the Czech Republic, I wouldn’t play any tournament this week, because I just felt really tired.

“But they all wanted to see me, and I felt they gave me so much energy in Paris. They’ve been enjoying it so much. So I felt I really have to come here and play my best every single day, just to they can see me and see that I’m real. I had to give it back to them somehow.

“That was pretty much my power—the people came to see me, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.”

Krejcikova was ranked No. 38 going into this four-tournament stretch, and was never even in the Top 100 until last October, after reaching the fourth round of the 2020 fall edition of Roland Garros.

That was pretty much my power—the people came to see me, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. Barbora Krejcikova

The other big mover on the WTA rankings this week was another Roland Garros standout, Tamara Zidansek, who jumped from No. 50 to a new career-high of No. 37. Zidansek, a semifinalist in Paris, won the WTA 250 on clay in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Over on the ATP rankings, all three of last week’s title winners made notable moves: Pablo Carreno Busta rose from No. 13 to No.11, one spot off his career-high of No. 10, after winning the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500 in Hamburg; Casper Ruud returned to his career-high rank, rising from No. 16 to No. 14 after winning the ATP 250 in Bastad; and former No. 5 Kevin Anderson soared from No. 113 to No. 74, his highest ranking since November 2019, after winning the grass-court event in Newport, his first ATP title since January 2019.

Also, even though he didn’t play this past week, Cameron Norrie made his Top 30 debut, rising from No. 32 to No. 30 after nearby players lost points.