December 2015 USA Career-High Rankings

Periodically I will bring you a list of USAmerican players who have reached a new career-high ranking (CHR) in the previous weeks. This list covers all players in the Top 1000. Any player outside the Top 1000 generally will not be included unless they have earned at least one point since the prior ranking period. See all the CHR posts.

Here are the new CHRs for December 2015!

Guide:

• If the ranking was a new career high, it will be noted in bold. 
• If it tied his or her previous career high, it will be noted with an asterisk.* 
• If it marks his or her debut in the ranking it will be noted in red.

New ATP Career-High Rankings, December 2015

Player name	12/7	12/14	12/21	12/28	Pvs (achieved)
Taylor Fritz	177	177	177	174	176 (11/23/15)
Frances Tiafoe	179	179	179	176	178 (11/23/15)
Sekou Bangoura	329	327	328	295	348 (11/23/15)
Stefan Kozlov	352	350	350*	351	353 (11/30/15)
Mackenzie McDonald	375	371	372	371*	376 (11/30/15
Peter Kobelt	446	397	381	380	445 (11/2/15)
Clay Thompson	466	465	468	468	471 (11/30/15)
Eric Johnson	529	523	523*	522	557 (11/30/15)
Alexios Halebian	646	645	643	617	638 (11/23/15)
Ryan Shane	903	727	728	730	882 (10/5/15)
Gonzales Austin	787	760	758	761	782 (11/23/15)
Winston Lin	872	873	854	843	873 (11/30/15)
Henrik Wiersholm	901	899	897	897*	902 (11/30/15)
Nathan Pasha	914	917	919	917	915 (11/30/15)
John Lamble	1227	1145	1104	1105	1218 (11/30/15)
Hunter Reese	n/a	1446	1459	1222	n/a
Junior Ore	1353	1285	1286	1288	1329 (5/17/10)
Tim Kopinski	1374	1302	1301	1309	1348 (10/12/15)
Robert Levine	1889	2014	1337	1341	1729 (9/14/15)
Nicholas Reyes	1535	1418	1414	1413	1494 (9/21/15)
Denis Nguyen	1560	1570	1445	1444	1551 (11/30/15)
Mitchell McDaniels	n/a	1783	1786	1784	n/a
Beau Treyz	n/a	n/a	n/a	2013	n/a
Robbie Mudge	2075	2086	2087	2085	n/a

Highlights:

It was a great year for American men. 126 different players achieved their career-high rankings this year, including 19 of the year-end top 25. Most of them are youngsters still on the upswing of their careers. So -- exciting times!

End-of-year Futures: Given that it's the "off-season," it's no surprise that December does not bring a lot of big rankings jumps. A lot of guys are on the list solely thanks to others above them falling. But there were a number of solid performances at late-November and early-December challengers that lifted men to new heights. Of particular note:

• Sekou Bangoura got to the Waco final over Thanksgiving, then two weeks later won the Dominican Republic F3 title, to end the year in the Top 300 (over 250 spots higher than he started) and set himself up well for a shot at the French Open and Wimbledon qualies.

• Peter Kobelt, after many close calls, finally won his first title, at Israel F17, to open December, and followed it up with a semifinal run the next week at Israel F18 .

• Eric Johnson reached the Israel F16 semis at the end of November.

• Ryan Shane had a fantastic first week of December, reaching the Tallahassee Futures final, in the process ending Henri Laaksonen's 11 match win streak. 

Four debutants: Congrats to Hunter Reese (University of Tennessee), Mitchell McDaniels (University of New Mexico), Robbie Mudge (NC State), and Beau Treyz (University of Nebraska) for all picking up their first ATP points! Reese qualified for Dominican Republic F1 and reached the quarters (beating Top 300 player Nicolas Barrientos in the first round), then followed it up two weeks later by qualifying for DOM F3 ... and again reaching the quarters! McDaniels also qualified for DOM F1, and won a round, while Mudge qualified for the Waco Futures and won a match.

As for Treyz, it was great to see him get his prized first point. For those unaware, Treyz has a podcast called "What Do You Get?" that has recently been focused on his first steps into the world of pro tennis and interviews with some of the guys he's met. Give a listen!

New WTA Career-High Rankings, December 2015

Player name	12/7	12/14	12/21	12/28	Pvs (achieved)
Kristie Ahn	207*	206	207	207	207 (11/30/15)
Robin Anderson	281	279	277	279	280 (11/30/15)
Raveena Kingsley	616	612	611	601	606 (11/23/15)
Madeleine Kobelt	953	952	953	957	993 (7/13/15)
Mara Schmidt	n/a	n/a	1076	927	n/a
Sophia Bursulaya	1273	1273	1240	1244	1271 (11/30/15)

Highlights:

December is even slower for women's tennis. Madeleine Kobelt reached the quarters of a $10K in Colombia, and Mara Schmidt got a win at at $25K in Lagos, Nigeria, and then another win the following week in the same city.

And then there's Sophia Bursulaya. She was already in the rankings thanks to some wins at $10Ks, but then she entered qualifying at the end-of-year Cairo $25K. Only 11 players entered the 16-player draw, meaning that only 3 first-round matches were played, and as a seed, Bursulaya got a bye into the main draw. There she faced 7 seed Ivakhnenko and ... didn't win a game. But by making the main draw, she picked up a point, vaulting her up 33 spots into the Top 1250 for the first time.

And the was the end of the year that was!