New USA Career-High Rankings, August 11, 2014

Each week I will endeavor to bring you a list of USAmerican players who have reached a new career-high ranking. This list is not exhaustive but will cover most players in the Top 1000. 

New WTA Career-High Rankings - August 11, 2014 (previous highs & date achieved in parentheses)

CoCo Vandeweghe: 38 (41 - 7/14/2014)
Shelby Rogers: 86 (104 - 7/14/2014)
Grace Min: 106 (108 - 8/4/2014)
Madison Brengle: 115 (118 - 8/4/2014)
Taylor Townsend: 125 (127 - 8/4/2014)
Nicole Gibbs: 141 (142 - 7/21/2014)
Sachia Vickery: 143 (145 - 8/4/2014)
Louisa Chirico: 217 (218 - 7/21/2014)
Asia Muhammad: 291 (292 - 8/4/2014)
Denise Mursean: 425 (427 - 7/21/2014)
Tornado Alicia Black: 566 (574 - 8/4/2014)
Josie Kuhlman: 636 (638 - 7/28/2014)
Alexa Guarachi: 651 (671 - 8/4/2014)
Ellie Halbauer: 699 (700 - 7/21/2014)
Karina Vyrlan: 744 (749 - 7/28/2014)
Kelly Chen: 866 (867 - 8/5/2014)
Natalie Suk: 1090 (1110 - 8/5/2014)

The biggest news of the week is easily Shelby Rogers, who made another really nice run in Montreal, beating 3 top-60 players (including Genie Bouchard in what was supposed to be something of a homecoming party) to enter the Top 100 for the first time.  Shelby has 115 points coming off from her ITF $75K win in Albuquerque and then that's it for the year.  She only has 100 points to defend until the grass season of 2015 so as long as she doesn't have another lull, we will likely be seeing a few more mentions of her on this blog down the road.

CoCo Vandeweghe entering the Top 40 is also a big story.  She won five matches in Montreal, including back-to-back three-set wins over the two top-10 Serbian players.  She was a set away from practically assuring a seed at the US Open.  Due to her run, she had to miss Cincinnati but she'll be back next week in New Haven and then at the Open, where she has 160 big points to defend.  We're hoping for a nice draw.

Finally, just another thumbs up to Madison Brengle, who just keeps on truckin'.  She'll fall a bit next week when her 2013 Landisville $25K champion points come off.  This week she'll find out whether she's got that coveted USOpen wild card. If she doesn't, she'll at least be seeded for the qualies and ... who knows ... maybe this is her time!

New ATP Career-High Rankings - August 11, 2014 (previous highs & date achieved in parentheses)

Jack Sock: 56 (60 - 7/28/2014)
Chase Buchanan: 172 (174 - 8/4/2014)
Jason Jung: 286 (288 - 5/19/2014)
Jared Donaldson: 308 (309 - 8/4/2014)
Dennis Nevolo: 412 (417 - 8/4/2014)
Marcos Giron: 432 (435 - 8/4/2014)
Ernesto Escobedo: 511 (514 - 7/28/2104)
Sekou Bangoura: 535 (538 - 8/4/2014)
Mitchell Frank: 601 (606 - 8/4/2014)
Alexander Sarkissian: 681 (682 - 8/4/2014)
Peter Kobelt: 717 (733 - 8/4/2014)
Collin Altamirano: 842 (846 - 8/4/2014)

Peter Kobelt's climb has slowed a bit since his breakout results in Israel but he still reached a quarterfinal at a Futures in Lithuania a couple of weeks ago. He should go up again a bit next week with another quarterfinal in Finland last week.  $10K quarterfinals are frustrating for a player because they're only 2 points, whereas a semi is 6 points - a threefold increase that is huge to anyone with a total of 20-40 points.

Sock's big jump came via his win over Jurgen Melzer in Toronto.  Then for the FOURTH time this year he came up against his nemesis, Milos Roanic.  Each time has been in the first two rounds of the tournament.  Each time he's come up juuuust a bit short.  It's getting a little absurd, people.  But he's still at a career high and that's awesome.

Last note is about Jason Jung.  I just think it's always cool when a new career high doesn't come one or two weeks after the previous one.  His gap - since May - was the biggest we had this week on either tour.  Those are situations to celebrate because, with the exception of the #1 player in the world, you never know if you're at your career high.  Points come off, draws get ridiculously tough, injuries occur, new phenoms join the tour, life happens.  Rankings are in so many ways so arbitrary but a player still carries that number around with him or her forever: career-high ranking.  It becomes something that partly defines your identity as a person, not just a tennis player.  My goal here is not to do that - it's simply to celebrate achievement.  So let's celebrate: JASON JUNG, YOU HAVE A NEW CAREER-HIGH RANKING!  CONGRATULATIONS!!!