Cameron Norrie has replaced Jack Draper as Britain’s men’s number one, but the position is likely to change hands several times this year.
Both players lost in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells last week, with Draper – the defending champion and owner of 1,000 ranking points – falling 12 places to 26th in the world rankings.
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Meanwhile, Norrie has moved up five places to No. 24, becoming the UK’s No. 1 for the second time in his career.
“Obviously, it’s a good thing but I didn’t really think about it too much,” Norie, 30, told BBC Sport.
He was impressed that Draper worked his way back into form after being sidelined with a long arm injury and managed to reach the quarterfinals in Indian Wells.
Draper defeated Novak Djokovic along the way before losing to Daniil Medvedev.
“Unfortunately, Jack is out with injury, but I just want to say it’s impressive – the second time he’s played and he’s gotten to this level,” Norrie said.
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“I don’t think there are too many players who can do that. I was out for three or four months with injury and it took me four or five games to really start to feel good.
“He’s already competing with the best. I think we’re going to be competing for that spot the rest of the year.”
Only 43 points and two places separated Norrie and Draper in the rankings.
Neither man has a good record heading into the Miami Open, which starts later this week, and they had few points to defend from last year’s event.
If Draper had done at least one more lap than Norrie in Florida, he might have taken back the pole immediately.
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After that, the pendulum may swing in Norrie’s favor, as Draper had an impressive run on European clay courts last year, including reaching the final in Madrid and the quarter-finals in Rome.
After Wimbledon, though, Draper only has 50 points to defend the rest of the year, so he’ll have a chance to rise quickly.
Draper’s more pressing concern is whether his ranking can remain high enough to make him one of the seeds for May’s French Open.
With all those clay-court ranking points to defend, Draper will have to perform well to break into the top 32 seeds in Paris.
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This is a coveted spot because a seeded team cannot play another seeded team until the third round.
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Cameron Norrie defeats Jack Draper at Wimbledon in July 2024, a month after Draper replaced him as British number one [Getty Images]
Draper has been Britain’s number one since June 2024, taking over from Norrie, who had held the position since winning Indian Wells in October 2021.
The 24-year-old has only played in two ranking events since last August’s U.S. Open and returned from injury in February.
Prior to his injury, Draper was steadily on his way to the top of his game.
He reached the semifinals of the 2024 US Open, won the most important title of his career at Indian Wells six months later and rose to fourth in the world rankings in June.
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The Briton’s friendly rivalry with Norie could help push him back into the top ten.
“Cam is playing some great tennis,” Draper said.
“He’s been very consistent. I think it’s good for British tennis that he’s come back and played really well – he’s a top-10 player who had a serious forearm injury a couple of years ago.
“I’m really happy for him and his team and if we can continue to push each other to do well, that’s a really great thing.”
Rankings are calculated over a 12-month period, with players effectively defending points earned at the same event a year ago.
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Draper’s absence from the tour was the primary reason he lost the UK No. 1 ranking, but Norrie performed well after falling outside the top 90 in April.
He reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July and defeated world number one Carlos Alcaraz at the Paris Masters in October.
“I was in a tough spot,” Norie said. “There were just a little too many expectations, but I let go of that and enjoyed my tennis more, and then suddenly I was in the top 30 at the end of last year.”