New USA Career-High Rankings, Dec. 8, 2014

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

New WTA career-high rankings, December 8, 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
Katerina Stewart	365	369*	+4
Nadja Gilchrist	583	585*	+2
Ellie Halbauer	611	616	+5	612	11/3/2014
Rianna Valdes	764	766*	+2
Alexandria Stiteler	779	784*	+5
Ingrid Neel	807	808*	+1
Kelly Chen	827	830*	+3
Nicole Frenkel	831	834*	+3
Alexandra Morozova	885	946	+61	938	11/3/2014
Emma Higuchi	898	902*	+4
Natalie Suk	905	908*	+3
Daniella Roldan	925	932	+7	931	11/24/2014
Kristina Smith	975	984*	+9
Terri Fleming	993	1001*	+8
Usue Arconada	1044	1051*	+7		11/3/2014
Caroline Dolehide	1047	1055*	+8
Jessica Ho	1072	1087*	+15
Tina Tehrani	1090	1103*	+13
Jessica Failla	1123	1134*	+11
Andie Daniell	1129	1140*	+11
Alexandra Valenstein	1163	1174*	+11
Dasha Ivanova	1163	1174*	+11
Jessica Golovin	1218	1228*	+10
Alexis Nelson	1218	1228*	+10

These women continue to annoy, as they make for looooong lists despite not participating in tournaments. With the exception of Morozova (who reached the quarters of a $10K in Bogota a couple of weeks back) it's all attrition! December is supposed to be the slowest month (and it is, match play-wise) but here we are with two dozen new career-high rankings. I mean, I'm very happy for all of them, but it would be nicer if there were wins to celebrate along with the rises.

New ATP career-high rankings, December 8, 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	334	356	+22	351	11/10/2014
Peter Kobelt	543	545*	+2
Reilly Opelka	1194	1198*	+4		11/24/2014

The shortest list ever! And only one of the players actually "earned" his rise this week. Kobelt and Opelka both advanced thanks to attrition, so all our attention should be on Connor Smith. It's a bittersweet rise for the erstwhile Ohio State Buckeye, who reached the final at the Dominican Republic F1 Futures event and went up a set and 4-2 over controversial Dutchman Antal Van Der Duim only to lose that set in a tiebreaker (7-5) and then win a lone game in the 3rd set. On the bright side, though, Smith continues to impress on clay, and has only 3 points to defend for the next 4 months, so there's plenty of room for growth as he reaches the top of the Futures game.

(I honestly don't know why the discrepancy between the two sexes at this stage in the calendar, but it's been a few weeks now, and I'll admit to being stumped.  It's really just noise, but why wouldn't there be equal noise on both sides?.  If anyone has a clear-cut explanation of this phenomenon, I'd love to hear it!)

New USA Career-High Rankings, Dec. 1, 2014

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

New ATP career-high rankings, December 1, 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
Jarmere Jenkins	193	213*	+20
Daniel Nguyen	301	331	+30	328	11/17/2014
Marcos Giron	368	414	+46	412	11/17/2014
Peter Kobelt	545	548	+3	546	11/10/2014
Tommy Paul	905	946*	+41
Justin Shane	928	1093	+165	1080	11/3/2014
Collin Johns	1109	1145*	+36
Quentin Vega	1364	1488*	+124	1432	7/28/2014
Alex Rybakov	1418	1535*	+117
Gary Kushnirovich	1564	1839	+275	1702	10/27/2014

It's the "tennis off season" and yet we've got all these new career highs! How is this possible? It's all thanks to the Futures.  The Futures at issue this week, for the men, took place a week prior, and were as follows:

Australia F10: Jenkins continued his reign of Aussie terror with his FOURTH Futures title in that country (which is its own continent!).

Mexico F13: Nguyen won his third title of the year - all in different countries on the same continent. He beat Giron, who is now gloriously Top 400, in the final. And Johns in the second round, who won his fifth match in the last 5 tournaments (all in Mexico).

USA F32: Disappointingly, there were no US finalists, but Shane did reach the semis, which was huge, while young Paul got to the quarters, with a straight-set win over the top seed Peter Heller. Meanwhile, the tournament saw 2 wildcards (Vega & Rybakov) and a lucky loser (Kushnirovich) reached the second round, with Vega losing to eventual champ Theo Fourniere.

New WTA career-high rankings, December 1, 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
Caitlin Whoriskey	325	327*	+2
Katerina Stewart	369	370	+1		11/10/2014
Nadja Gilchrist	585	587	+2	586	11/10/2014
Rianna Valdes	766	768*	+2
Alexandria Stiteler	784	788*	+4
Ingrid Neel	808	810*	+2
Kelly Chen	830	832*	+2
Nicole Frenkel	834	836*	+2
Emma Higuchi	902	903*	+1
Natalie Suk	908	910*	+2
Kristina Smith	984	988*	+4
Terri Fleming	1001	1006*	+5
Caroline Dolehide	1055	1062*	+7
Jessica Ho	1087	1093*	+6
Tina Tehrani	1103	1109*	+6
Jessica Failla	1134	1139*	+5
Andie Daniell	1140	1144*	+4
Alexandra Valenstein	1174	1178*	+4
Dasha Ivanova	1174	1178*	+4
Jessica Golovin	1228	1229*	+1
Alexis Nelson	1228	1229*	+1

Such a long list. So little actual movement........ No actual tennis represented. Nicole Melichar did reach a $10K final that week, but she's still 200+ spots below her career high of 400, set back in 2012.