New USA Career-High Rankings, Dec. 29, 2014

Each week I will bring you a list of USAmerican players who have reached a new career-high ranking (CHR). This list is not necessarily exhaustive but covers at least all players in the Top 1000. See all the CHR-related posts.

Special note: Thanks to Ian DW I was able to solve a mystery that has been plaguing me for weeks - why is it that for six weeks in a row, we have seen just a handful of men's new CHRs but dozens of women? Particularly since very few of the women were actually earning points; rather, they were benefiting from other women losing points.

Ian speculated that there might be fewer women's events in 2014 and darn it if he wasn't spot on.  In fact, in the last 6 weeks of 2014, the ITF has held only 36 women's events, compared to 48 in 2013 -- a decrease of 25%! Fewer events means fewer opportunities to defend points, and thus the rise in those who weren't defending anything from this time a year ago.

Meanwhile, in the last 6 weeks of 2014, the ITF has held 54 men's events, compared to only 44 last year -- an increase of 23%! Further, most of the new ATP events are in the Eastern Hemisphere, making it tougher for US men to justify participating in them.

So, mystery solved. Next week's lists should be pretty sparse, with a few players benefiting from the calendar shift to a week later. But then we'll get going again as the season starts in earnest!

New ATP career-high rankings, December 29, 2014

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= pvs CHR	+  from last wk	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Connor Smith	328	336	+8	334	12/8/2014

Hopefully this is our shortest list ever! Smith is the list, a reward for his semifinal run in the final Dominican Republic Futures of the year. The Ohio State University product has impressed all year, and will no doubt be one to watch for 2015.

New WTA career-high rankings, December 29, 2014

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= previous   CHR	+  from last week	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Louisa Chirico	182	183*	+1		12/15/2014
Alexa Guarchi	522	523*	+1
Nadja Gilchrist	576	578*	+2
Alexandria Stiteler	769	771*	+2
Ingrid Neel	795	797*	+2
Kelly Chen	817	821*	+4
Nicole Frenkel	821	824*	+3
Alexandra Morozova	858	862*	+4		12/15/2014
Daniella Roldan	891	893*	+2
Emma Higuchi	895	897*	+2
Natalie Suk	902	903*	+1
Kristina Smith	963	964*	+1
Terri Fleming	976	979*	+3
Usue Arconada	1030	1032*	+2
Caroline Dolehide	1035	1036*	+1
Jessica Ho	1057	1059*	+2
Tina Tehrani	1076	1077*	+1
Jessica Failla	1108	1109*	+1
Andie Daniell	1115	1116*	+1
Dasha Ivanova	1152	1155*	+3
Kaitlyn McCarthy	1152	1155*	+3
Alexandra Valenstein	1152	1155*	+3
Jessica Golovin	1213	1215*	+2
Alexis Nelson	1213	1215*	+2

A sixth straight week of 20+ new career highs - and this week there are NO results to back it up. Very much looking forward to 2015 when we'll get some actual wins to write about.