Bublik falls in ATP rankings, to miss Davis Cup

Kazakhstan’s top-ranked tennis player Alexander Bublik fell one position in the latest ATP rankings and now stands 17th. Separately, the national team’s coaching staff decided not to include him in the Davis Cup roster for the tie against Thailand.

Bublik’s performance at the 2026 U.S. Open cannot be described as successful: in the third round of the singles draw, the Kazakhstani lost to American Tommy Paul in five sets, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 3-6. As a result, Bublik failed to defend his points and fell to No. 17 in the rankings, despite recently being in the top 10.

Despite losing 1,300 points, Italian Jannik Sinner remains the world No. 1 after skipping the tournament in New York due to injury. The latest U.S. Open champion, Alexander Zverev, remained second. However, his lead over Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who lost to Ben Shelton in the semifinals, increased significantly. Meanwhile, Shelton climbed to a career-high No. 4.

Separately, Alexander Shevchenko will lead Kazakhstan’s national team in the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Thailand. After announcing the roster, which includes Timofey Skatov, Denis Yevseyev, Beibit Zhukayev and Amir Omarkhanov alongside Shevchenko, team captain Dias Doskarayev commented on Bublik’s omission:

«We considered several factors when forming the roster. Of course, our goal for the upcoming match is to win. At the same time, we believe it is important to use such matches to expand the roster and give other tennis players some match practice. That is why this time we decided to give the team an opportunity to play without Alexander Bublik. Alexander remains one of the leaders of our national team, and his absence is due to our decision to involve other players and gradually increase the team’s depth.»

The Kazakhstan-Thailand tie will take place in Astana from Sept. 18 to 19 on a hard court.

Shevchenko and Skatov are likely to play singles. The doubles pair has yet to be announced. Kazakhstan’s top-ranked doubles player, Grigoriy Lomakin, was also not invited to the tie against Thailand.