ATP Tour and Grand Slam breakthroughs, career-high Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Davis Cup heroics, storybook Laver Cup debuts: Our 4 Most Improved Player of the Year nominees within the 2023 ATP Awards appeared to do all of it this season.
Matteo Arnaldi, Christopher Eubanks, Ben Shelton and Jannik Sinner confirmed an improved degree of efficiency all year long and made important jumps within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
| Player | Age | 2022 Year-end Ranking | Current Ranking |
| Matteo Arnaldi | 22 | 135 | 44 |
| Christopher Eubanks | 27 | 124 | 34 |
| Ben Shelton | 21 | 97 | 17 |
| Jannik Sinner | 22 | 15 | 4 |
Nominees for Most Improved Player of the Year are decided by an International Tennis Writers’ Association (ITWA) vote. The winner is chosen by gamers from the shortlist.
Matteo Arnaldi, 22
As if Italy wasn’t already deep sufficient with the likes of Jannik Sinner, Matteo Berrettini, Lorenzo Musetti, Lorenzo Sonego, and so forth. You can now add Matteo Arnaldi to that potent combine, an aggressive, bodily baseliner from the Italian Riviera who in 2023 leapt from No. 134 into the Top 50 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
It was a busy yr for the 22-year-old right-hander, who collected a trio of ATP Challenger Tour titles in Tenerife, Murcia and Heilbronn, then battled by way of the qualifying rounds to succeed in the principle attract Dubai, Barcelona, Madrid, Wimbledon, Toronto and Beijing. After reaching his first tour-level semi-final in Umag, Arnaldi punched by way of to the Round of 16 on the US Open, the place he shocked each Arthur Fils and Cameron Norrie. But the spotlight of the yr got here in his Davis Cup debut in Malaga, Spain, the place he dispatched Aussie Alexei Popyrin and helped lead his countrymen to their first title in 47 years.
A tearful Arnaldi received over tennis followers worldwide when he devoted the victory to his girlfriend’s late father, who had handed away solely weeks earlier.
“It’s very emotional, extra as a result of a vital particular person handed away a month in the past for me and for my girlfriend,” he informed the gang. “So that is for him and she or he doesn’t know what it means to me — additionally for my nation.”
Matteo Arnaldi in Madrid. Credit: Getty Images
Christopher Eubanks, 27
You weren’t alone should you acquired caught up in late-bloomer Christopher Eubanks’ feel-good run in 2023, which noticed the American crack the Top 100 with a quarter-final exhibiting in Miami, declare his first ATP Tour title in Mallorca, then stun Cameron Norrie and Stefanos Tsitsipas en path to his maiden main quarter-final on the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon.
What made it much more exceptional was that the previous ACC Player of the Year (Georgia Tech) pulled all of it off whereas doubling as a Tennis Channel commentator, as adept on the set/behind the mic as he’s on the tennis courtroom.
The expertise has been there all alongside. It simply took some self-belief (and a pep speak from countryman John Isner) for the American to place all of it collectively at 27.
“He reassured me, ‘You’re going to be positive, don’t fear about it.’ I feel at the moment I used to be ranked round 180, 170, one thing like that,” mentioned Eubanks, who would later rise to a career-best No. 29 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. “He actually reassured me I used to be going to be positive. Practising with him and listening to his enter actually gave me a bit of bit further push to form of understand it’s going to work out.”
Christopher Eubanks at Wimbledon. Photo: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
Ben Shelton, 21
You couldn’t dial up a greater debut than the one Ben Shelton lived out in 2023. The reigning NCAA singles titlist, the son of former ATP Tour professional Bryan Shelton, burst onto the scene in Melbourne, flashing his massive lefty, power-serving recreation in reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals. Forget the truth that, till then, Shelton had by no means travelled exterior the United States.
He one-upped that consequence on the US Open, downing compatriots Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe to earn a semi-final shot at Novak Djokovic. By yr’s finish, the onetime Florida Gator had helped lead Team World to its second straight Laver Cup title in Vancouver, claimed his first ATP Tour title in Tokyo, and rocketed from No. 96 to a career-high No. 15 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
Ironically, it may need been Shelton’s mid-year stall that benefitted him most. (He didn’t win back-to-back matches throughout a rocky February-to-August stretch, going 7-18 in tour-level matches.) He was studying in actual time, taking part in on new surfaces in new locations, quietly turning into a greater, extra skilled participant.
“I positively discovered a variety of issues. The checklist might go on and on,” mentioned Shelton. “Going to so many alternative international locations and taking part in on totally different surfaces, and simply being uncovered to various things. I do know that it’s one thing the place there’s going to be a bit of little bit of a studying curve. I feel that was a bit for me that I form of needed to maintain my perspective and know that, ‘Okay, it’s not like I’m alleged to exit right here and win each single match I play simply because I did one thing good early within the season.’”
Ben Shelton in Tokyo. Photo: Koji Watanabe/Getty Images
Jannik Sinner, 22
Though he’s simply 22, we’ve lengthy identified Jannik Sinner’s ceiling is a excessive one.
He cracked the Top 10 as a youngster, in spite of everything, and coming into this yr had already reached the quarter-finals of all 4 majors and received six tour-level titles. But it was in 2023 that all of it actually got here collectively for the lanky, hard-hitting baseliner, who, by going 64-15, set an Open Era report for many wins by an Italian participant in a single season.
That mark included a personal-best 13 Top 10 wins, his first main semi-final (Wimbledon), his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title (Toronto) and a run to the trophy match on the Nitto ATP Finals, the place he traded wins with year-end No. 1 Novak Djokovic. He additionally reached a career-high No. 4, matching legend Adriano Panatta because the highest-ranked Italian in Pepperstone ATP Rankings historical past.
The Darren Cahill/Simone Vagnozzi-coached Sinner would save the perfect for final, main Italy to its first Davis Cup title since 1976, the clincher coming within the type of a dominant 6-3, 6-0 dismissal of Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
“I think, especially the second half of the year, mentally I was much, much stronger,” mentioned Sinner. “I used to be not complaining a lot on courtroom when issues had been going within the mistaken approach. I feel these form of issues, they make distinction typically…
“One of the things where I can be really happy is that I played many, many important matches in the biggest stadiums we have throughout the whole year. This is something [that] hopefully can help for the next season.”
Jannik Sinner in Davis Cup motion. Photo: LLUIS GENE/AFP by way of Getty Images
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