The FIR Rankings may have been frozen until March but an end-of-year update to the Juniors and Seniors rankings have seen a number of new No.1s.
This update has occurred to include players that are now eligible for the Seniors rankings and to remove players that are no longer eligible for the Juniors rankings at the start of the new year.
Kirsten Kaptain becomes the new Women’s Seniors Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles No.1 as she becomes eligible for that category at the beginning of 2021.
With Luka Penttinen and Leon Griffiths no long eligible for the juniors categories, Florian Harca is elevated to No.1 in the Boys Juniors Singles rankings while David Ersil tops the Boys Juniors Doubles.
Kaptein Leads Senior Changes as Ratzer, Jordan and Schaefer also Join
The biggest change to the Senior Rankings comes with the introduction of Kirsten Kaptein. The Dutch stars eligibility means that she automatically moves to No.1 of the Singles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
Kaptein has replaced Isabelle Bramhall at the top of the first two rankings. In the Mixed Doubles, she has leapt ahead of Silke Altmann.
Germany’s Nicole Bohn is the only other female player to move onto the senior rankings, entering at No.36.
In the Men’s Seniors, six new players have entered the top 100 of the rankings after joining in 2021.
Reigning world champion Jesper Ratzer is the most high-profile name, although his inactivity means that he only lands at No.33.
Two players immediately enter the top-10 of the rankings – Ray Jordan and Christian Schaefer. Jordan lands at No.3, only behind Duncan Stahl and Nikola Mikac while displacing Marcel Weigl. Schaefer is the new No.8, with the pair bumping Frank Kleiber and Peter Sakovics out of the top-10.
France’s Nicolas Lemercier, Germany’s Andreas Escher and Great Britain’s Keith Lesser are the other three to enter the top 10. Lemercier lands at No.48, Escher at No.54 and Lesser at No.60.
All of these players are now allowed to enter +40 categories at all FIR World Tour events, including the World Championships.
Harca and Ersil take No.1 spots in Juniors rankings
Four players in the top-10 of the Boys Juniors Singles rankings have celebrated birthdays which mean they can no longer compete in the juniors categories.
Luka Penttinen, Leon Griffiths, Joel Pennanen and Oskari Laiho all left the rankings. This paved the way for Florian Harca to move up to world No.1 for the first time. Luke Griffiths moves to No.2 with David Ersil and No.3.
This also opened the door for Jonas Engstrom, Matthew Davidson, David Bennett and Cornelius Ried all to move into the top-10 of the rankings.
While Hannah Boden remains the Girls Juniors Singles No.1, three players in those rankings also fell out. Dara Ladner, Nefeli Solomon and Linnea Koskinen all left the rankings moving Afghanistan’s Shaghyegh Tabatabaie up to No.3. Sonja Bieber, Alexandra Ogram and Rachel Xu also enter the Top-10 in the rankings.
The Boys Juniors Doubles rankings were the other that saw a new name at the top. Czech Republic’s David Ersil moves up to No.1 as Penttinen departs, the first time Ersil has been a No.1 in any category.
The rankings will now remain frozen until the end of March when the FIR World Tour is scheduled to return.
The full FIR World Tour rankings can be viewed here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
