| As of 1 January 1988 |
| Rk |
Name |
Nation |
| 1 |
Ivan Lendl |
TCH |
| 2 |
Stefan Edberg |
SWE |
| 3 |
Mats Wilander |
SWE |
| 4 |
Jimmy Connors |
USA |
| 5 |
Boris Becker |
FRG |
| 6 |
Miloslav Mečíř |
TCH |
| 7 |
Pat Cash |
AUS |
| 8 |
Yannick Noah |
FRA |
| 9 |
Tim Mayotte |
USA |
| 10 |
John McEnroe |
USA |
| 11 |
Andrés Gómez |
ECU |
| 12 |
Kent Carlsson |
SWE |
| 13 |
Brad Gilbert |
USA |
| 14 |
Martín Jaite |
ARG |
| 15 |
Anders Järryd |
SWE |
| 16 |
Joakim Nyström |
SWE |
| 17 |
Emilio Sánchez |
ESP |
| 18 |
David Pate |
USA |
| 19 |
Guillermo Pérez-Roldán |
ARG |
| 20 |
Eliot Teltscher |
USA |
|
| Year-end rankings (19 December 1988) |
| Rk |
Name |
Nation |
Points |
High |
Low |
Change |
| 1 |
Mats Wilander |
SWE |
|
1 |
3 |
+2 |
| 2 |
Ivan Lendl |
TCH |
|
1 |
2 |
−1 |
| 3 |
Andre Agassi |
USA |
|
3 |
26 |
+22 |
| 4 |
Boris Becker |
FRG |
|
4 |
8 |
+1 |
| 5 |
Stefan Edberg |
SWE |
|
2 |
5 |
−3 |
| 6 |
Kent Carlsson |
SWE |
|
6 |
16 |
+6 |
| 7 |
Jimmy Connors |
USA |
|
4 |
11 |
−3 |
| 8 |
Jakob Hlasek |
SUI |
|
8 |
43 |
+15 |
| 9 |
Henri Leconte |
FRA |
|
9 |
24 |
+12 |
| 10 |
Tim Mayotte |
USA |
|
8 |
13 |
−1 |
| 11 |
John McEnroe |
USA |
|
10 |
25 |
−1 |
| 12 |
Yannick Noah |
FRA |
|
7 |
12 |
−4 |
| 13 |
Miloslav Mečíř |
TCH |
|
4 |
13 |
−7 |
| 14 |
Andrei Chesnokov |
URS |
|
14 |
52 |
+38 |
| 15 |
Aaron Krickstein |
USA |
|
14 |
64 |
+46 |
| 16 |
Thomas Muster |
AUT |
|
13 |
60 |
+43 |
| 17 |
Emilio Sánchez |
ESP |
|
14 |
23 |
= |
| 18 |
Guillermo Pérez-Roldán |
ARG |
|
13 |
29 |
+1 |
| 19 |
Mikael Pernfors |
SWE |
|
19 |
39 |
+24 |
| 20 |
Pat Cash |
AUS |
|
4 |
20 |
−13 |
|