What a year it’s been for tennis fans across the globe in 2024.
There really is a sport like no other with wall-to-wall coverage of tennis now taking place seemingly all year round on the ATP Tour.
The game waved goodbye to two legends in 2024 with Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal retiring after legendary careers.
It was a strong year for Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner with the two player sharing the four Grand Slam titles between them.
That ensured a bittersweet year for Novak Djokovic who didn’t claim a big one but in winning Olympic gold, he pretty much completed tennis!
A number of young talented emerged during the year and as a result, we’ve looked at three players who can count themselves improved during 2024.
- READ MORE: Jack Draper provides worrying fitness update
The three most improved players on the ATP Tour in 2024
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
It’s been a remarkable rise for the talented Frenchman in 2024.
He began the year outside the top 200 in world tennis and was a relative unknown to even the most ardent of tennis fans.
The 21-year-old has actually been voted as the official Most Improved Player of 2024 by the ATP Tour and he’s now sat at 31st in the world rankings.
Prior to the calendar year, Mpetshi Perricard had played just five tour-level matches but managed to win 16 of his 28 matches in main draws during the year.
After qualifying for Wimbledon as a lucky loser he went onto reach the fourth round and knocked out talented American player Seb Korda in round one.
Jack Draper
Great British tennis is on the rise once again and it’s courtesy of Draper.
The world number 15 was a rank outsider at the turn of the year but as Big Ben chimes midnight for 2025 he can pat himself on the back for being a top 16 player.
Draper reached a final in Adelaide during his first tournament of 2024 and he hasn’t really looked back from there.
He knocked out Carlos Alcaraz at Queens in the warm-up event for Wimbledon and went on an amazing run to the semi-final of the US Open where he lost to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
Draper will be disappointed to lose to Cameron Norrie at Wimbledon but there will be plenty of other chances for him to be successful in his own Grand Slam.
The Draper Dune in 2025, anyone?
Taylor Fritz
It does feel somewhat strange to put Fritz in this compilation but you’d be hard-pushed to think he hasn’t improved in 2024.
Fritz will look back at this year as the one where he stepped up to become the chief bridesmaid having reached finals at the US Open and the ATP Finals.
The 27-year-old is now the fourth-best player in world tennis on the ATP Tour and he will now start to truly believe that big titles can be claimed in the future.
Fritz can take a lot of positives out of 2024 and it’s extremely exciting to see what he can achieve in the next 12 months.
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