6 interesting facts from the 2020 ATP season: Federer had the same number of titles at Djokovic's present age, and more
The 2020 ATP season featured the inaugural ATP Cup, where the Novak Djokovic-led Serbia beat the Rafael Nadal-led Spain in the final.
Andrey Rublev meanwhile became the first player since Dominic Hrbaty in 2004 to win two titles before the Australian Open, triumphing in Doha and a brand new tournament in Adelaide. And in an all-French Auckland final, Ugo Humbert became the newest player to win a title on the ATP tour.
At the Australian Open, Roger Federer escaped a pair of five-setters - against John Millman and Tennys Sandgren - to join Marin Cilic (32) as the active players with the most fifth-set wins. Djokovic beat Federer for the fourth time in an Australian Open semifinal and then recovered from 2 sets to 1 down against Dominic Thiem to extend his perfect record in Australian Open finals to 8-0.
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Czech Jiri Vesely won in Pune to win his first singles title in five years (2015 Auckland), while Frenchman Gael Monfils won multiple titles in his career for the very first time - going back-to-back in Montpellier and Rotterdam.
On that note, let us have a look at six interesting facts from the nascent 2020 ATP season:
#1 Federer is the first player to win singles matches in 4 different decades
With a straight-sets win over American Steve Johnson in the first round of the 2020 Australian Open, Federer became the first player to win matches in four different decades.
Federer, who made his tour debut in 1998, won 15 matches in the 90s, 663 matches in the 2000s, 558 matches in the 2010s and has so far won five matches in the 2020s.
The 38-year-old fell in the first round in both his Grand Slam matches in the 1990s, losing to Patrick Rafter at 1999 Roland Garros and to Jiri Novak at 1999 Wimbledon. In the process, Federer narrowly missed out on becoming the only player to win Grand Slam matches in four different decades.
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#2 Federer overtakes Jimmy Connors for the most matches at a Grand Slam tournament
By beating Marton Fucsovics in a four-set fourth round match at the 2020 Australian Open, Federer went past Jimmy Connors' record (115 matches) for most matches at a Grand Slam tournament.
In his record-breaking 116th match at a Grand Slam tournament, Federer saved match points against American Tennys Sandgren, before losing to Novak Djokovic for the fourth time in an Australian Open semifinal. The win over Sandgren meant that Federer broke his own record (101 at Wimbledon) for most match wins at a Grand Slam tournament.
Federer and Connors are the only players to have played over 100 matches at a Grand Slam tournament. While Federer has played 117 matches at the Australian Open (102-15), 114 at Wimbledon (101-14) and 103 at the US Open (89-14), Connors played 115 matches at the US Open (98-17) and 102 matches at Wimbledon (84-18).
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