For the first time in his career, South African men’s tennis player Kevin Anderson has reached the 10th position on the ATP ranking, recording his highest ever placing with this week’s version of the list.
Anderson has enjoyed a stellar year, working hard on the court to move up in the rankings from the 15th position he occupied in January.
His efforts saw him reach the quarter-finals at the US Open for the first time in his career, while a superb Wimbledon fourth round match against eventual winner Novak Djokovic almost saw him defeat the Serbian to progress further, but a fightback from the world number one ensured his passage to the quarter-final at the expense of the 29-year-old South Africa.
A year of great achievements for the serve-master who turned professional in 2007 has now been capped by his rise to the top 10, which he revealed as a childhood dream that he is proud to have accomplished in a brief Tweet from his official account.
The Johannesburg-born player tweeted: “It has been a long journey, but hard work pays off #Top10 #childhooddream.”
Anderson therefore overtook French players Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet to move to 10th place from a previous position of 12th in the world.
Having now reached the top 10, Anderson is in the company of other famous South African tennis stars Eric Sturgess, Cliff Drysdale, Kevin Curren, Johan Kriek and Wayne Ferreira, who all spent time within the top 10.
Sturgess and Drysdale both reached the fourth position, while Wimbledon finalist Kevin Curren reached a career-high fifth position. Johan Kriek, who was the only South African to win a grand slam singles title when he was twice successful at the Australian Open made it to eighth in the world during his career, while Anderson’s childhood hero Wayne Ferreira reached his highest placing of sixth, and was in the top 10 consistently for some years.
Anderson now looks to better his personal record and delve deeper into the top 10 with better performances in the year to come, building on his first ever Grand Slam quarter-final at Flushing Meadows and aiming to progress even further at the top four tournaments of the season.
1. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 15 785
2. Andy Murray (Britain) 8 640
3. Roger Federer (Switzerland) 8 420
4. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6 495
5. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 4 910
6. Kei Nishikori (Japan) 4 710
7. Rafa Nadal (Spain) 4 060
8. David Ferrer (Spain) 3 945
9. Milos Raonic (Canada) 2 770
10. Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 2 475
