| As of 1 January 1986 |
| Rk |
Name |
Nation |
| 1 |
Ivan Lendl |
TCH |
| 2 |
John McEnroe |
USA |
| 3 |
Mats Wilander |
SWE |
| 4 |
Jimmy Connors |
USA |
| 5 |
Stefan Edberg |
SWE |
| 6 |
Boris Becker |
FRG |
| 7 |
Yannick Noah |
FRA |
| 8 |
Anders Järryd |
SWE |
| 9 |
Miloslav Mečíř |
TCH |
| 10 |
Kevin Curren |
USA |
| 11 |
Joakim Nyström |
SWE |
| 12 |
Tim Mayotte |
USA |
| 13 |
Paul Annacone |
USA |
| 14 |
Johan Kriek |
USA |
| 15 |
Andrés Gómez |
ECU |
| 16 |
Henri Leconte |
FRA |
| 17 |
Scott Davis |
USA |
| 18 |
Brad Gilbert |
USA |
| 19 |
Tomáš Šmíd |
TCH |
| 20 |
Martín Jaite |
ARG |
|
| Year-end rankings (December 1986) |
| Rk |
Name |
Nation |
Points |
High |
Low |
Change |
| 1 |
Ivan Lendl |
|
|
|
|
= |
| 2 |
Boris Becker |
|
|
|
|
+4 |
| 3 |
Mats Wilander |
|
|
|
|
= |
| 4 |
Yannick Noah |
|
|
|
|
+3 |
| 5 |
Stefan Edberg |
|
|
|
|
= |
| 6 |
Henri Leconte |
|
|
|
|
+10 |
| 7 |
Joakim Nyström |
|
|
|
|
+4 |
| 8 |
Jimmy Connors |
|
|
|
|
–4 |
| 9 |
Miloslav Mečíř |
|
|
|
|
= |
| 10 |
Andrés Gómez |
|
|
|
|
+5 |
| 11 |
Brad Gilbert |
|
|
|
|
+7 |
| 12 |
Mikael Pernfors |
|
|
|
|
+153 |
| 13 |
Kent Carlsson |
|
|
|
|
+37 |
| 14 |
John McEnroe |
|
|
|
|
–12 |
| 15 |
Tim Mayotte |
|
|
|
|
–3 |
| 16 |
Emilio Sánchez |
|
|
|
|
+48 |
| 17 |
Martín Jaite |
|
|
|
|
+3 |
| 18 |
Kevin Curren |
|
|
|
|
–8 |
| 19 |
Anders Järryd |
|
|
|
|
–11 |
| 20 |
Thierry Tulasne |
|
|
|
|
+1 |
|