Switzerland's Roger Federer continued to climb quickly on the short list of greatest men's tennis players of the open era.
Federer earned 16 points in my system with his four-set win over Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open -- 10 for the victory, two points for winning three sets to one and four bonus points by beating an 8-time major champion in Agassi.
Federer finished the year with 29.5 points when you combine the points with his Wimbledon victory. Federer has now won six of the last 10 major tournaments and when you run his record through my system, he's already run up 372.5 points to knock Rod Laver out of the 10th spot.
Laver, of course, would rank near the top if most of his career wasn't in the amateur era.
Agassi's run to the final edged him oh so close to sixth all-time. The U.S. Open final was the 15th time he made it to a major final. He is now 8-7 in those finals with four losses to Pete Sampras (No. 1 all-time). Still, he'll need one more final to pass Mats Wilander for sixth.
Here's how the men's top 32 now appear:
1. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 656.50
2. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 648.50
3. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 619.50
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 594.50
5. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 542.50
6. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 471.50
7. Andre Agassi, United States, 1990-2005, 470.00
8. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 423.50
9. Stephan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 406.00
10. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2005, 372.50
11. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1969, 351.00
12. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1993, 334.50
13. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 323.00
14. John Newcombe, Australia, 1969-1976, 304.50
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 290.50
16. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 228.00
17. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1975, 212.00
18. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2001-2005, 191.00
19. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 191.00
20. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 188.50
21. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 166.00
22. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 154.00
23. Stan Smith, United States, 1971-1972, 150.50
24. Pat Cash, Australia, 1987-1988, 141.00
25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 139.50
26. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 134.00
27. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 133.00
28. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1992-2001, 131.00
29. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 120.00
30. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 113.00
31. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2005, 111.50
32. Manuel Orantes, Argentina, 1974-1975, 109.00
On the women's side, Mary Pierce made a slight move up the list and Kim Clijsters joined the ranks of established champions after finally claiming a title after losing three times to Justine Henin-Hardenne and once to Jennifer Capriati.
The all-time women's ranking looks this way heading into 2006:
1. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1987-1999, 1212.00
2. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1975-1994, 1190.00
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1973-1988, 948.50
4. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1990-1998, 684.00
5. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1973, 646.00
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1975, 609.50
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 567.00
8. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 455.50
9. Serena Williams, United States, 1999-2005, 446.00
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1997-2002, 425.00
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2005, 394.00
12. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 333.00
13. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1998-2005, 308.50
14. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium, 2001-2005, 245.00
15. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 191.00
16. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 190.00
17. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 185.00
18. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 184.00
19. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 163.00
20. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 147.00
21. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 140.00
22. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 139.00
23. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 126.00
24. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 107.50
25. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 100.00
26. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 95.00
27. Christine O'Neill, Australia, 1978, 85.00
28. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004, 77.50
29. Nancy Richey, United States, 1968-1969, 71.00
30. Mary Joe Fernandez, United States, 1990-1993, 69.00
31. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 67.00
32. Wendy Turnbill, United States, 1977-1980, 65.00
