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Who's smashing it? Our guide to risers and fallers in tennis rankings: New ground for Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov is still sliding
Our regular series continues to look at the players causing a storm on the circuit and those who have been blown away with a rundown of the top 10 world rankings in the men and women's game.
On the up...
Alexander Zverev
Old ranking: 17 New ranking: 10
The 20-year-old German defeated Novak Djokovic to win the Italian Open and became the youngest winner of a Masters 1000 tournament since the Serb himself achieved the feat in Miami in 2007.
Zverev shot up the rankings seven places to break into the top 10 for the first time in his career.
"I could not imagine top 10 by the age of 20," Zverev said after his victory in Rome. "It's something truly amazing. Getting there is one thing, but staying there is going to be very, very difficult.
"Even though I won this title, I will be back on the practice courts very soon trying to improve my game."
Zverev downplayed his chances of winning a maiden grand slam at the French Open which starts on Sunday, despite defeating former world No 1 Djokovic in straight sets in their first ever meeting.
"The strong favourite is still definitely Nadal. Novak is playing great again. Thiem has been showing he's been playing very well," he added.
"I just won here, so I've got to put myself on that list, even though I don't want to say that I'm the favourite myself. But the guys who have been playing the best over the past few weeks are definitely the favourites."
Daria Gavrilova
Old ranking: 33 New ranking: 25
The 23-year-old has emerged as Australia's biggest French Open hope with a solid showing in Rome.
Gavrilova had to qualify for the tournament after forgetting to enter the main draw but went on a five-match winning streak before getting upended in the quarter-finals by Kiki Bertens.
The Russian-born right-hander, who represented the country of her birth until 2015 before emigrating to Australia, came through three tough contests against American Madison Keys, France's Carolina Garcia and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova before falling to 15th seed Bertens.
Had Gavrilova seen off Bertens, she would have become Australia's No 1 women's singles player and replaced Samantha Stosur who has been No 1 since October 2008.
Gavrilova will be seeded at Roland Garros for the first time in her career after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second successive year and a consistent showing on clay this spring.
John Isner
Old ranking: 24 New ranking: 22
The big-serving American came within a set from reaching his first final of the year in Rome but succumbed to wonderkid Zverev in the semi-finals.
On this showing at the Italian Open, the 32-year-old looks primed to better a four-round showing at the French Open. Isner has only won one of his 10 ATP titles on clay (Houston back in 2013) but proved in Rome, on his day, he is up there with some of today's best clay-court specialists.
Isner saw off Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, three-time slam champion Stan Wawrinka and US Open winner Marin Cilic en route to the last four in Rome.
“I feel I can play well on all surfaces,” Isner said ahead of his clash with Zverev. “Nothing changes for me. Whether I'm playing on grass, hard or clay, it's the same recipe. I'm going to serve and hold my serve a lot. I can hold my serve in mud out there, really. So I like my serve no matter the surface.
"Clay can be a great surface for me, but I also can play poorly on clay. I'm not gonna be at the back of the court winning, playing defensively, whether that's on a hard court, clay court or grass court. It's all the same.”
Anett Kontaveit
Old ranking: 68 New ranking: 52
The 21-year-old Estonian has been in scintillating form this season and improved her ranking by 16 places with a run to the quarter-finals in Rome.
Qualifier Kontaveit thrashed world No 1 Angelique Kerber in straight sets - inflicting a second set bagel on the confidence-stricken German. The 2015 Eastbourne champion then followed up this stunning win by crushing 16th seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to reach the last eight.
Her dream debut was ended by French Open favourite Simona Halep in straight sets.
Kontaveit won a maiden WTA final at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne in Switzerland in February and followed that up with a win over reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza.
Her sensational form has already made her reassess her goals for the season.
"I’ve achieved a few goals already," she said. "The first was top 100, then top 70. We were trying to set small goals. But for the rest of the season, I’d say top 30 (is the new target)."
On the slide
Stan Wawrinka
Old ranking: 3 New ranking: 3
The Swiss may still be clinging on to third spot, but not for much longer, one suspects. Rafael Nadal is looming large and with a possible La Decima on the cards, the Spaniard will surpass the 2015 French Open champion in the rankings in the coming weeks.
Wawrinka reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros last time out so has plenty of points to defend. On current form, he has a tall order just making it beyond the third round.
The 32-year-old's slump has gone under the radar with Andy Murray and Djokovic suffering longer than expected declines.
Since defeat to Roger Federer in the final of Indian Wells in mid-March, Wawrinka has suffered exits in the third round, two second rounds and one first-round in his following four tournaments.
Wawrinka likes to save his best performances for the big events and is not fazed by being the underdog (as proved against Djokovic in the 2015 French Open final). But, for the past three years he’s reached at least the quarters in one of the three major clay events before rocking up in Paris.
Wawrinka has turned up in Genova this week, hoping to turn his fortunes around, and looking to defend his title in order to give himself something to smile about when he moves on to Paris.
Dominika Cibulkova
Old ranking: 5 New ranking: 7
The Slovakian hasn't played herself into any form for the upcoming major with only three matches under her belt during the clay-court season, two of which ended in defeat.
The 28-year-old reached the final of the Madrid Open last year, but slipped to a shock loss to French qualifer Oceane Dodin in the second round this month.
Cibulkova could not shake herself from her slumber in Rome either where she fell to a second-round defeat to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova, despite having won the first set 6-1.
Cibulkova was forced to withdraw from Stuttgart last month due to a wrist injury and is still showing the effects of that lay-off.
Grigor Dimitrov
Old ranking: 11 New ranking: 12
The 26-year-old looked to have got his stuttering season back on track with a run to the fourth round in Madrid. But the Bulgarian reverted to 2017 type with a first-round loss in Rome.
His defeat to Juan Martin del Potro was his fourth exit in the opening round of the last five tournaments.
All of his four losses have come against lower ranked opposition with world No 385 Tommy Robredo taking advantage of Dimtrov's lack of confidence in Morocco last month.
It's easy to forget that Dimitrov reached the Australian Open semi-finals in January and came very close to overcoming Rafa Nadal in a five-set five-hour tussle.
It could be a coincidence that Dimitrov's slump comes at a time when there is renewed speculation over his relationship with singer Nicole Scherzinger.
The Bulgarian's concentration levels have suffered before due to off-court goings on and his camp, no doubt, have instructed him to focus on his targets and goals ahead if he is to fulfill his potential.
Caroline Garcia
Old ranking: 24 New ranking: 29
Since a run to the semi-finals on the hard courts of Monterrey, Mexico, the 23-year-old hasn't been able to adjust to life on the clay.
The French doubles specialist slips five places to 29 after early round exits in Rome and Madrid. At this rate, she looks unlikely to better a second-round showing at her home grand slam.
Men and women's rankings