First-Time ATP Winners In 2008 Make Big Impact.
Tennis newsFrenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro (pictured), who finished in the Top 10 of the South African Airways ATP Rankings, were among the 11 players who captured their first career ATP titles this year.
The 20-year-old del Potro became the 13th player (third active) in the Open Era to win his first four ATP finals (Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles, Washington) he’s appeared in.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the Delray Beach winner, achieved the biggest rankings jump of any first-time ATP titlist. The 18 year old rose 223 places to a year-end position of No. 63 this season. Zagreb champion Sergiy Stakhovsky and Vienna titlist Philipp Petzschner also improved by more than 100 places in the South African Airways ATP Rankings.
Since 1983, when records began, only six times there have been less than 10 first-time ATP winners during the year. The most first-time winners in the last 25 years were 18 in 1995.
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