5) Lucas Pouille
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Cha. To make a jump from being ranked 78th in the world at the start of the year, to being ranked 15th at the end, is no laughing matter, but Lucas Pouille has done it.
And for his incredible performances, Pouille was duly voted as the ATP Most Improved Player by his peers. The 22-year-old is the youngest of France's rich haul of 12 players in the top 100. He's also the French No. 3, only behind Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Pouille has had a stellar year, reaching the quarter-finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open. He also reached the first Masters 1000 semi-final of his career in Rome, losing to Andy Murray.
While he beat an in-form Juan Martin del Potro at Wimbledon, Pouille earned himself bragging rights for the rest of his life, when he beat 14-time Grand Slam champion, Rafael Nadal, in a four marathon in New York, one that had to be decided by a fifth set tie-break.
Pouille, born to a French father and a Finnish mother, has said that the turning point for him this season was the win against Ferrer in March in Miami, which gave him confidence that he could “win against the top guns, if he were to not think too much and just play each point as it comes.
A resident of Dubai, the young player is known to be a simple and quiet person, which he personally thinks helps him during tense situations in matches.
Pouille had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, when he got an invite to train with Federer for a week during the off season.
Federer, who has his training base in Dubai, rates Pouille very highly, and thought that the Frenchman would be his ideal training partner to prepare for his comeback in the new tennis season. Pouille admits that he's learned a lot from those sessions, and it stands him in good stead to capitalize on a great 2016, and go for even greater glory in 2017.
