Daniil Medvedev has faced many struggles at Grand Slams this year, despite being a former US Open champion.
Medvedev has only won one Grand Slam match all year, which came at the Australian Open.
Since then, the former world number one has lost his last four Grand Slam matches, with Medvedev involved in a big controversy at the US Open, where he lost in the first round.
Medvedev lost to Benjamin Bonzi at both Wimbledon and the US Open this year, but the Frenchman has now faced a big setback.
Benjamin Bonzi suffers significant drop in the ATP rankings
Although Bonzi has obtained two big wins over Medvedev this year at the Grand Slams, there has not been so much success for him outside of that.
Bonzi’s best result in singles this year came at the Cincinnati Open, where he reached the last-16 after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas.
That is the only time that Bonzi has won three consecutive matches this year, in what has been a very mixed season for him.
After the US Open, Bonzi climbed up to world number 45 in the rankings, which is only three places off the career-high ranking he achieved in 2023.
Bonzi has only won three matches since the US Open, and was forced to retire from his most recent match against Jiri Lehecka in Brussels due to a left leg injury.
This injury appears to have called an end to Bonzi’s season, as he was unable to defend his only ATP title win at the tournament in Metz last week.
As a result of this, Bonzi has now dropped 263 points from his ranking in the latest update and fallen 37 spots.
This now positions Bonzi as the world number 94, and although this would currently enable him to directly enter the Australian Open, it puts him in a vulnerable position while players below him look to collect crucial points on the ATP Challenger circuit.
Former US Open finalist falls outside the top 150 after not playing since August
Bonzi is not the only significant faller in this week’s ATP rankings update, as former US Open finalist Kei Nishikori has also faced a big drop.
Nishikori, who has been ranked as high as world number four, has faced many injury struggles in recent years, but after making another comeback managed to build his way back up to world number 58 in the ATP rankings back in May.
However, further setbacks have caused Nishikori to withdraw from the US Open, Wimbledon and the French Open this year, with his last match coming at the Cincinnati Open.
This time last year, Nishikori won his ninth ATP Challenger title in Helsinki, but his recent absence means those points have now come off his ranking.
Nishikori has now fallen from world number 119 to 159, confirming that even if he is fit enough he will not directly enter the Australian Open main draw.
Instead, Nishikori will have to enter Australian Open qualifying, unless he is the recipient of a wildcard.
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