The ATP Rankings 2026 in October look paradoxical. Jannik Sinner has not played since July and on 6 October announced the end of his season because of his knee — yet he remains World No. 1. At the same time, Alexander Zverev is ahead of him in the race for the ATP Finals. There is no contradiction here: these are two different standings, and both follow clear rules. Let us break down how points are calculated in the ATP and WTA Rankings, who is currently on top and who will be going to the Finals.
World No. 1 in 2026: who is on top
The World No. 1 in men’s tennis is currently Jannik Sinner, and in women’s tennis it is Elena Rybakina. The Kazakh player climbed to the summit for the first time during the US Open, where she won her second Grand Slam title of the season and ended Aryna Sabalenka’s 99-week run at the top.
ATP Rankings 2026: top 10 on 19 October
- Jannik Sinner (Italy) — 10,950 points;
- Alexander Zverev (Germany) — 10,070;
- Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) — 5,610;
- Ben Shelton (USA) — 4,720;
- Daniil Medvedev — 3,660;
- Flavio Cobolli (Italy) — 3,640;
- Félix Auger-Aliassime (Canada) — 3,590;
- Alex de Minaur (Australia) — 3,430;
- Frances Tiafoe (USA) — 3,380;
- Arthur Fils (France) — 3,325.
WTA Rankings 2026: top 10 on 19 October
- Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) — 9,196 points;
- Aryna Sabalenka — 7,550;
- Mirra Andreeva — 6,306;
- Jessica Pegula (USA) — 6,265;
- Coco Gauff (USA) — 5,974;
- Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) — 5,229;
- Karolína Muchová (Czechia) — 4,833;
- Linda Nosková (Czechia) — 4,678;
- Iga Świątek (Poland) — 4,389;
- Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine) — 3,920.
The men’s and women’s rankings are updated on Mondays, so any snapshot lasts a week. We looked in detail at how the biggest points of this season were won in our 2026 Grand Slam review.
How are ATP rankings calculated? A rolling 52 weeks
Both the ATP Rankings and the WTA Rankings are calculated over the last 52 weeks. Points earned at a tournament last exactly a year: when the week of the same tournament in the following season comes around, the old points ‘burn off’ and are replaced by new ones — if the player has earned them. That is why defending points matters so much: last year’s champion needs to go deep again, otherwise they lose almost everything at once.
Hence the answer about Sinner. His tally still includes titles from the spring and Wimbledon 2026, as well as his autumn results from 2025. The latter are gradually burning off, but on 19 October the Italian still had 10,950 points against Zverev’s 10,070.
ATP Rankings: 18 counting tournaments
From the 2026 season, the men’s tour counts a player’s best 18 results instead of the previous 19; at the same time, players had the number of mandatory 500-category tournaments reduced by one. For top players who automatically qualify for all the big tournaments, the tally is made up as follows:
- 4 Grand Slam tournaments;
- 8 ‘Masters’ events with automatic entry — all Masters 1000 except Monte-Carlo;
- 6 best other results: United Cup, Monte-Carlo, 500 and 250 tournaments, Challengers and ITF;
- The ATP Finals — on top of that, as a 19th result, if the player has qualified.
Mandatory tournaments count even if a player missed them: in that case a zero goes into the tally. From 2026 there is some relief: a player who missed two automatic tournaments in a row through injury may replace the zeros for ‘Masters’ events with later results, but no more than three times in a season.
How many points ATP tournaments award
ATP singles ranking points for 2026:
- Grand Slam: title — 2,000, final — 1,300, semi-final — 800, quarter-final — 400;
- Masters 1000: 1,000, 650, 400, 200;
- ATP 500: 500, 330, 200, 100;
- ATP 250: 250, 165, 100, 50.
ATP Finals: how many points it awards depends on the number of wins — 200 for each round-robin win, 400 for a won semi-final, 500 for a won final. An unbeaten champion receives 1,500.
If two players have the same total, the one with more points from Grand Slam tournaments, mandatory ‘Masters’ events and the ATP Finals ranks higher. After that, officials look at the smaller number of tournaments played and at the single most ‘valuable’ result.
WTA Rankings: 18 plus one
The women’s tour also counts 18 singles tournaments, with Finals points going in as a 19th result. The structure of the tally is different:
- 4 Grand Slam tournaments;
- 6 best results at the seven ‘big’ WTA 1000 events: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Toronto/Montreal, Cincinnati, Beijing;
- 1 best result at one of the three shorter WTA 1000 events: Doha, Dubai, Wuhan;
- 7 best other results — from WTA 1000 down to ITF tournaments.
Points for a title match the men’s: 2,000 for a Grand Slam, 1,000 for a WTA 1000, 500 and 250 for tournaments in the corresponding categories, 125 for a WTA 125. The intermediate rounds differ: a Grand Slam runner-up receives the same 1,300, while a semi-finalist gets 780 and a quarter-finalist 430. At WTA 1000 level the scale reads 1,000, 650, 390, 215. To appear in the WTA Rankings at all, a player must earn points at a minimum of three tournaments or at least 10 points at one. The computerised WTA Rankings have been kept since 3 November 1975.
The ATP Champions Race and the WTA Race: how they differ from the rankings
Besides the main rankings, both tours run a ‘race’ — the Race; in the men’s game it is called the ATP Champions Race, or Race to Turin. Its count resets at the start of the season and takes into account only the current year’s results under the same rules. It is the Race that determines the participants in the Finals, and that is why Sinner trails Zverev in it: in the 2026 ATP Race on 18 October the German had 9,150 points and the Italian 7,950. The autumn points from 2025 that keep Sinner at the top of the rankings do not count towards the Race.
The 2026 Finals: who qualifies
ATP Finals 2026: participants and qualification rules
The ATP Finals 2026 will be held from 15 to 22 November at the Inalpi Arena in Turin. Places go to the top seven players in the Race after the Paris Masters. Next come the current season’s Grand Slam champions, if they are ranked between 8th and 20th, and if there are none, the next player in the rankings goes as the eighth entrant.
In 2026 all three Grand Slam title winners qualified early: Sinner on 10 July, Zverev on 6 August, Alcaraz on 16 September. On 18 October Ben Shelton joined them, for whom this is a second successive Finals. But Sinner, the two-time defending champion in Turin, has withdrawn, so the remaining places are being contested by Cobolli, Medvedev, Tiafoe, Fils and the Spaniard Rafael Jódar, who reached his first Masters final in Shanghai.
The 2026 WTA Finals in Indian Wells
The women’s Finals have moved this year: the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation agreed to end their three-year contract early, and the tournament will be held from 8 to 15 November in Indian Wells instead of Riyadh. The format is unchanged: eight players in two groups of four, with the top two from each reaching the semi-finals. A place in the top seven earns entry, while the eighth spot goes to a Grand Slam champion ranked between 8th and 20th. There is also an activity requirement: a player must have played at least eight WTA 1000 and 500 tournaments.
By 21 October seven players had secured their places: Rybakina (also the reigning Finals champion), Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Linda Nosková, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina.
Rankings of Russian tennis players
Russian tennis players compete in a neutral status, but their results are counted in the rankings as usual. On 19 October the highest-ranked Russian in the ATP Rankings was Daniil Medvedev, fifth with 3,660 points; he is also one step away from returning to the Finals. In the women’s game Mirra Andreeva, the Roland Garros champion, is World No. 3, while Diana Shnaider is 13th.
What follows from this
The rankings reward consistency over the course of a year, not form in the past month. A player who won two Grand Slams in the summer can remain second for a long time if the leader managed to accumulate more a year earlier. The Race, by contrast, honestly shows the season from scratch. That is why, in the off-season, first place in the rankings and victory in the Race are two different achievements, and in 2026 they may well go to different people. For more on how injuries separated the leaders of the men’s tour, see our piece on the rivalry between Sinner and Alcaraz.
Frequently asked questions about the ATP and WTA Rankings
Who is World No. 1 right now?
In men’s tennis it is Jannik Sinner: in the ATP Rankings on 19 October 2026 he has 10,950 points, while second-placed Alexander Zverev has 10,070.
Who is the women’s World No. 1?
Elena Rybakina. She took over at the top of the WTA Rankings during the 2026 US Open and on 19 October leads Aryna Sabalenka by almost 1,650 points.
How are ATP rankings calculated?
A player’s best 18 results over the last 52 weeks are added up: four Grand Slams, eight mandatory ‘Masters’ events and six best other tournaments. Finals points go in as a 19th result.
How many points are awarded for winning a Grand Slam tournament?
2,000 in both the ATP and the WTA Rankings. The runner-up receives 1,300 points.
What is the ATP Champions Race?
It is a ranking based only on the current season’s results, which resets in January. It is used to select the participants for the ATP Finals in Turin.
Who will play at the 2026 ATP Finals?
By 21 October Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton had qualified; Sinner qualified but withdrew because of a knee injury. The remaining places will be decided by the end of the Paris Masters.
