Five players from the United States are ranked in the Women’s Tennis Association’s top 15 for the first time in two decades, the USTA said on Monday. World number two Coco Gauff led the American charge followed by sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula and Danielle Collins, who climbed two spots to ninth on the list amid a remarkable farewell season.
Madison Keys was ranked 14th while Emma Navarro hopped two spots to a career-high 15th after reaching her first major quarter-final at Wimbledon. The last time five American women featured in the top 15 was May 24, 2004, when Lindsay Davenport was fourth in the world.
Rafa Nadal warmed up for his bid for another Olympic medal at the Paris Games with a doubles win at the Swedish Open in Bastad on Monday as the Spaniard returned to competition for the first time since May. The 22-times Grand Slam champion teamed up with Norwegian Casper Ruud to record a 6-1 6-4 win over second seeds Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela on the Swedish clay.
It was Nadal’s first appearance at the ATP 250 event since winning the singles as a 19-year-old in 2005. Nadal elected to skip Wimbledon to prepare for the Olympics on the clay courts of Roland Garros where he has won a record 14 French Open singles titles.
“Personally, I am happy and I think it was a good match. We played quite well in the first time we played together and I’m happy to be back here after almost 20 years,” the 38-year-old said on court.