I’ve done the College ATP Singles Rankings on several occasions throughout the year but I hadn’t got around to breaking down the doubles rankings until now. For many former college players their best chance at success on the pro tour comes not on the singles side but the doubles side. As proof of this statement you need to look no further than numbers; there are 3 players with college ties in the ATP Doubles Top 10 and 25 with college ties in the top 100. In the most recent singles rankings there were 0 players with college ties in the top 10 and just 3 in the Top 100.
Of course the one thing that can’t be overlooked is the difference in prize money between singles and doubles. The Bryan Brothers finished tied for fifth in the doubles rankings and each made $782,000 in prize money while Kei Nishikori finished fifth in the singles ranking and raked in a cool $4,325,000.
11/21 ATP Doubles Rankings & Earnings
#5 Mike Bryan (Stanford) – $782,000
#5 Bob Bryan (Stanford) – $782,000
#9 John Peers (MTSU/Baylor) – $701,000
#14 Rajeev Ram (Illinois) – $533,000 + $391,000 (singles)
#22 Treat Huey (Virginia) – $381,000
#27 Jean-Julien Rojer (UCLA) – $417,000
#30 Robert Farah (USC) – $240,000
11/21 ATP Singles Rankings & Earnings
#5 Kei Nishikori – $4,325,000
#9 Rafael Nadal – $2,714,000
#14 Roberto Bautista-Agut – $1,906,000
#22 Pablo Cuevas – $1,270,000
#27 Albert Ramos-Vinolas – $1,181,000
#30 Pablo Carreno Busta – $991,000
Highest Ranked Current College Players
#536 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia)
#624 Courtney Lock (UNLV)
#689 Filip Dolezel (Hawaii Pacific)
#714 Herkko Pollanen (Ohio State)
#715 Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio State)
#733 Yates Johnson (SMU)
#734 Hunter Johnson (SMU)
Most of the guys are playing Futures events and to earn any points at that level they have to at least reach the semifinals as opposed to singles where a point is earned for winning a first round match. Below is a chart courtesy of the ATP that shows how points are awarded at all events.
Doubles:
# of current/committed college players in top 1000: 20
# of players with college ties in top 1000: 164
Average Age: 26
Singles:
# of current/committed college players in top 1000: 22
# of players with college ties in top 1000: 124
Average Age: 24
Schools with most ranked players (current/former):
12 – USC
11 – UCLA
9 – Illinois, Ohio State, Virginia
8 – Georgia
7 – Mississippi State, Tennessee
6 – Baylor, Florida State, Pepperdine, TCU
5 – Columbia, LSU, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, SMU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
To view the table below in a separate window click here. If I skipped over someone let me know – thanks.
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It's cool to see Ashley Fisher still ranked in the ATP doubles rankings. He's a famous TCU (Australian) player that, with Jason Weir-Smith, made the finals of the NCAA doubles championships in 1996. They lost to UCLA (including Justin Gimelstob) on a (somewhat) controversial call – Fisher/Weir-Smith were up a break in the 3rd set, but Weir-Smith's hat blew off in the 9th game, and they got a penalty point, and then got broke and lost the game. And then the match. Weir-Smith claimed that the point was over before the hat blew off, but that appeal was denied by the ump. Fisher/Weir Smith weren't even the Frogs' #1 doubles team that year – David Roditi and Paul Robinson were.
Fisher turned pro in 1998 and had a very successful 18-year career, primarily in doubles, playing in all Slams and making the semis of the U.S. Open once. He's still got ATP points because of a tourney a year ago, but that will soon roll off. And in July, he became the USF Bulls coach, so he's officially retired now. USF and TCU will met this Spring and Fisher and Roditi will meet as opposing coaches for the first time.