ATP Tour

Am I the right height to be World No. 1?

It takes a lot to add up to No. 1. Many of the skills behind a rise to the top of the PIF ATP Rankings are hard to quantify, but one particular trait is measurable in the most literal sense: height.

The tallest World No. 1 in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings is 6'6" Daniil Medvedev, who will face 6'3" current World No. 1 Jannik Sinner Friday in the semi-finals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

Each of the four longest-tenured World No. 1s stands between 6-foot-1 and 6'2": Novak Djokovic (6'2"), Roger Federer (6'1"), Pete Sampras (6'2") and Ivan Lendl (6'2"). Also in or within an inch of that range: Rafael Nadal (6'1"), Andy Murray (6'3"), Carlos Alcaraz (6') and current No. 1 Sinner (6'3").

"That seems to be like the ideal height: You're tall enough to get good pop and angles on the serve, yet you're short enough that your movement can be perfect," the 6-foot-6 Sam Querrey, who hit World No. 11 in 2018, told ATPTour.com last year. "And you're maybe less injury-prone." 

Querrey zeroed in on 6-foot-2 as the perfect height. But like a junior in the midst of a growth spurt, that number is always rising.

"It seems like the evolution of the tennis player — not only tennis, all sports — you see basketball with 7-foot guys who have ball-handling skills. You see in football, wide receivers are like 6-5 and faster than everyone," he explained.

"In tennis, I do feel like you're starting to see way more guys like Medvedev, Zverev, Fritz, Tsitsipas, Mpetshi Perricard. The 6'6" guy is becoming an even better mover, and give them another 20 years, they're going to be even better movers. I think this number for the ideal height goes up a quarter of an inch every two years."

In the history of the PIF ATP Rankings, since 1973, only two players above 6-foot-3 have held the No. 1 spot: Medvedev (6'6") for 16 total weeks and Marat Safin (6'4") for nine weeks. Five men have stood at No. 1 while standing 6-foot-3: Sinner, Murray, Boris Becker, Carlos Moya, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Gustavo Kuerten.

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While the game might be trending taller, for the moment, Querrey thinks movement can still hold back players at the top of the height range.

"In this day and age, the guy who's 6'1" can hit the serve as fast as the guy who's 6'6"," he explained. "Everyone can kind of hit a serve 135 miles per hour. Obviously you get better angles the taller you are.

"But I feel with the game and the movement, how physical it is, the guys at 6'2" are just a little bit better moving around the court than the guys that are 6'6". Having said that, the guys that are around 6'6" now, they're becoming better movers every year... Medvedev, Zverev and Tsitsipas are great movers. I just don't think they're as good as tennis players as Alcaraz and Sinner."

Put simply, if unscientifically: "There's just something about the 6'2", 6'3" guy that seems to catch the ball a little cleaner every time when they're hitting it," Querrey said.

But that may be changing, and Medvedev's 2022 rise to World No. 1 could be proof of concept for a new archetype. During his two stints totalling 16 weeks atop the PIF ATP Rankings, Medvedev's returning, defence and unorthodox playing style flummoxed opponents.

"He was a great returner. He hit an awkward ball; it was hard to attack against him. He was tall but played great defense for a tall guy," Querrey said. "He kind of perfected that, I hate to say, that ugly game that he has. I feel like he put people in really uncomfortable rallies time and time again."

One key differentiator from Medvedev and other exceptionally tall players: While Medvedev's serve was a big part of his success, it was far from his biggest asset.

"His serve was just good. I feel like, though, for a 6'6" guy, we never talk about him as one of the best serves at any given time," explained Querrey. "He was kind of this taller guy that you talk about the other parts of his game and not his serve.

"Maybe that's why he got to No. 1. It does seem like a lot of times when you're talking about the tall guys, you're always talking about their serve and they're not No. 1. Medvedev's one of these guys that serve's not the first thing that comes to mind, and he got to No. 1."

Can more giants of the game follow in Medvedev's footsteps? Will we see a No. 1 taller than the 6-foot-6 Medvedev before a No. 1 shorter than the 5-foot-9 Marcelo Rios?

"I would bet anything that it's going to be taller," said Querrey. "It has to be!"