From world No.4 to outside the top 100: What happened to Draper, Zheng, Raducanu and Tsitsipas?

Twelve months ago, Emma Raducanu, Jack Draper, Zheng Qinwen and Stefanos Tsitsipas were all expected to challenge deep into the biggest tournaments in tennis. Today, all four have suffered dramatic ranking collapses, with two now outside the world's top 100 and another set to fall outside the top 50. Here's how each season unravelled and whether there's still time to save it before the US Open.

Jack Draper and Zheng Qinwen are among the most dramatic cases, especially after being consistent top-10 players during 2025, seeing their rankings gradually fall due to injuries and inconsistent results.

Something more progressive has been the case for Emma Raducanu and Stefanos Tsitsipas — two players who have spent years trying to return to their best level. The Brit seemed to have found herself again since the end of 2025, and this year she even marked her return to the top-25, although the last few months have represented a drop — one that is projected to take her outside the top-50 starting on Monday.

There are still several Masters 1000 / WTA 1000 tournaments remaining for these big names to find a strong result that allows them to recover positions and rebuild confidence during the final part of the year — although perhaps taking these last few months as a way to regroup heading into 2027. Their rankings now leave them facing qualifying draws, difficult early-round opponents and, in some cases, the real possibility of missing direct entry into the sport's biggest tournaments.

Draper and Zheng have seen their rankings collapse primarily because of long injury absences, while Raducanu and Tsitsipas have largely struggled to convert promising spells into sustained results.

Emma Raducanu looked to have finally turned the corner earlier this year after climbing back to world No.23. Four months later, she is on the verge of dropping outside the top 50 again. Constant coaching changes and physical setbacks have prevented her from fully shining. Since 2021, she has gone through a total of 10 coaches before reconnecting in recent months with Andrew Richardson — the same coach who led her to the US Open title back in 2021.

After an association with former Rafael Nadal team member Francisco Roig, it seemed like Raducanu was close to taking the next step that would put her back inside the top-10 and competing for Grand Slam titles. She reached world No. 23 back in March, but fitness problems kept her out for a large part of the clay-court swing, returning just one week before Roland Garros.

Her return to grass courts was remarkable, with a run to the final of the Queen’s Club Championships — her second final of the season and third of her career — although she eventually fell against Donna Vekic. Precisely there, her nightmare started, with an injury forcing her to withdraw from Wimbledon, where she was defending a significant amount of ranking points.

Raducanu’s case is especially interesting because, for the first time in years, she appears to have found consistency on the court. She has produced consistent wins since 2025, and although her deep runs have been limited, many of Raducanu’s defeats have come against some of the Tour’s biggest names. Recurring physical issues have been her main enemy at this stage of her career.

She will be out of the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, which will now make her drop several more positions in the rankings, and her return is expected for the US Open.

If she is fit for New York, the US Open represents her best chance to halt the slide. Anything less than a strong run could see her begin 2027 outside the world's top 60.

Zheng Qinwen has suffered arguably the biggest rankings collapse on either tour after falling from world No.4 to outside the top 120. This after her brilliant season in 2024 — when she won the Olympic gold medal but also reached her first Grand Slam final, first WTA 1000 final, and first WTA Finals final. 2025 seemed like the perfect moment for Zheng to finally win a Slam title and establish herself inside the top-5, but setbacks forced her to cut her season halfway through the year.

The Chinese player fought to return after several months away, and with only a handful of tournaments in the final part of the season, the goal for 2026 was to recover positions and return to the privileged zone she had occupied one year earlier. However, she has progressively suffered early defeats and disappointing performances, which eventually pushed her outside the top-100 a few weeks ago — and she even dropped outside the top-150.

Zheng has not been at 100% physically, but she also has not been consistent when she has stepped onto the court. She has an 11-11 record this season and has won only four matches in her last 12 appearances. Back on hard courts, with the North American and Asian swings ahead, there are good opportunities for Zheng to return, add points, and complete her comeback into the top-100, but it will be complicated considering that her ranking does not even allow her direct entry into WTA 1000 or Grand Slam tournaments.

High pressure for the former Australian Open finalist, who has had some opportunities with wildcards at WTA tournaments but has not taken advantage of them so far. She will not play the Canadian Open and will need to go through qualifying at Cincinnati and the US Open if she wants access to the main draw.

Returning to the top 100 before the end of the Asian swing now looks like her most realistic target.

From Indian Wells champion and world No.4 to outside the top 140 in barely a year, Jack Draper's rise has been halted almost entirely by injury. Draper spent a large part of the season inside the top-5 and appeared to be one of the few names with a chance of challenging the dominance of Alcaraz and Sinner, but injuries eventually removed him from competition. After reaching world No. 4, everything has been physical problems for Draper since Wimbledon 2025.

The right arm injury has consistently kept him away from competition. He has an 8-5 record this season with only a handful of tournaments played, although whenever he has been healthy enough to compete, he has shown that his quality remains intact.

His most recent appearance at the Eastbourne International — after more than two months without competing — was a quick run to the semifinals, but it ended up costing him another setback with the injury, forcing him out for several more weeks.

Draper is facing more of a physical problem than a confidence issue — although these inevitably end up affecting each other. Recently, he withdrew from Wimbledon and the DC Open, although a new return is expected for the Canadian Open in a few weeks.

The 2024 US Open semifinalist remains a constant uncertainty while he tries to fully recover his physical form, and he is another player waiting for a wildcard into the US Open — otherwise, he will be forced to play qualifying, which would mean more matches and more physical load.

His priority is no longer ranking points but proving his body can withstand consecutive tournaments.

Stefanos Tsitsipas once looked destined to become a multiple Grand Slam champion. Instead, he recently slipped as low as world No.88 before showing signs of life with the Gstaad title. After several years as a consistent member of the top-10, multiple ATP Finals appearances (including a title), two Grand Slam final, and Masters 1000 titles, Tsitsipas currently seems like a different player from the one we knew in his early years.

At 27 years old, he has experienced an impressive drop in results since last year — and even during 2024 — although the ranking only reflected it recently. His lowest point came a couple of weeks ago when he fell to No. 88.

He quickly managed to win his first title in 16 months at the Gstaad Open and achieved a rise of more than 30 positions, ending up close to a return to the top-50.

The trophy could be a confidence boost — or simply remain as an anecdotal result at this stage of his career. Although he showed confidence on clay courts and against lower-ranked opponents than the ones he usually faces at the biggest tournaments, the Greek has already shown his ability on hard courts, and the North American swing could be a good opportunity to recover positions.

His recent separation from his father as coach happened precisely before the title in Gstaad, and it could be having a positive effect on Tsitsipas, but he still has a lot to prove if he wants to once again become a player of concern on the Tour.

The coming hard-court swing will reveal whether Gstaad was the beginning of a revival or simply a brief resurgence.

None of these four players are short of talent, but their rankings show how quickly fortunes can change in modern tennis. With the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and US Open still to come, the remainder of 2026 could determine whether this season becomes merely a setback—or the beginning of a much longer decline.