Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem & Andrey Rublev dominate the ATP stats lists in 2020
The 2020 season came at an end with the Nitto ATP Finals, and it has now emerged that the key stats from the year have been dominated by Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic finds himself near the top rungs in most of the lists compiled by Enrico Maria Riva of Tennis TV, which is not a surprise given that the Serb lost just five matches all year. But due to the truncated nature of the season, Djokovic - as well as Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem - have been superseded by Andrey Rublev in a couple of the volume-based lists.
None of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Dominic Thiem appears in the top 3 of most claycourt wins
Here's the list of players with the most claycourt wins in 2020:
Casper Ruud - 17
Cristian Garin - 15
Diego Schwartzman - 15
Novak Djokovic - 11
Laslo Djere - 11
Andrey Rublev - 10
Rafael Nadal - 9
Stefanos Tsitsipas - 9
Federico Delbonis - 8
It would be very unusual to find the King of Clay Rafael Nadal so low down the chart in a normal season. However, the Spaniard played just 10 matches on his favorite surface in 2020, with a 90% win rate. More importantly, Rafael Nadal managed to win the seven most important matches on clay this year at Roland Garros, including the famous final beatdown he inflicted upon Novak Djokovic.
The Serb, meanwhile registered 11 wins on the surface out of 12 matches, with his only defeat coming to Nadal at Roland Garros. Djokovic has a Rome Masters title to boast of and a win rate that is slightly greater than that of Rafael Nadal’s, at 91.6%.
Dominic Thiem, who is widely considered the next best claycourter after Rafael Nadal, does not feature on this list given that he played just one clay event all year - the French Open. The Austrian won four of his five matches, only to Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals.
Most wins on hardcourt - a list dominated by Andrey Rublev and Novak Djokovic
Here's the list of players with the most hardcourt wins in 2020:
Andrey Rublev - 31
Novak Djokovic - 30
iil Medvedev - 28
Alexander Zverev - 25
Felix Auger-Aliassime - 22
Milos Raonic - 22
Ugo Humbert - 20
Dominic Thiem - 19
Dan Evans - 19
Rafael Nadal - 18
Stefanos Tsitsipas - 18
Andrey Rublev unsurprisingly leads this list, having played a whopping 11 hardcourt tournaments and winning four of them. The Russian won 31 of the 39 hardcourt matches he played, giving him a 79.4 win percentage.
Novak Djokovic comes a close second with 30 wins in seven hardcourt events played. The Serb won four of those seven events, but only one of those titles came after the resumption of the tour.
Djokovic's tournament victories include the Australian Open, the Cincinnati Masters, the Dubai Open, as well as the ATP Cup, where the Serb won six matches out of six. With a total of 34 hardcourt matches played, Djokovic’s win percentage stands at a whopping 88.2%.
Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal are way behind with 19 and 18 wins respectively. However, it must be noted that the Spaniard played just 24 matches on the surface, whereas the Austrian played 26.
Nadal’s win percentage is at 75%, and Dominic Thiem's is slightly behind at 73%. But the Austrian wouldn't be complaining, given that he won his maiden hardcourt Grand Slam at the US Open and also finished as the runner-up at the Australian Open and the ATP Finals. On the other hand, Rafael Nadal won the 500 title at Acapulco earlier in the year.
Most Slam wins in 2020: Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic head and shoulders above the rest
Here's the list of players with the most Major match wins in 2020:
Dominic Thiem - 17
Novak Djokovic - 16
Alexander Zverev - 14
Rafael Nadal - 11
Andrey Rublev - 11
Pablo Carreno Busta - 11
Daniil Medvedev - 8
Diego Schwartzman - 8
Marton Fucsovics - 8
Stefanos Tsitsipas - 8
Karen Khachanov - 7
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem split the three Grand Slams of 2020 among themselves. The Serb triumphed in Melbourne with Thiem finishing as runner-up, while Rafael Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to the Austrian.
Dominic Thiem won the US Open, where the Serb was disqualified in the fourth round. Rafael Nadal meanwhile had withdrawn from the event due to health and safety concerns.
At Roland Garros, the Spaniard triumphed for a historic 13th time in his career. Novak Djokovic finished as the runner-up while Dominic Thiem lost in the quarterfinals.
Most wins vs top 10 players - Daniil Medvedev sneaks in to join Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem at the top
Here is the list of players with the most wins in 2020 against top 10 opponents:
Novak Djokovic - 10
Dominic Thiem - 7
Daniil Medvedev - 7
Andrey Rublev - 4
Alexander Zverev - 3
Denis Shapovalov - 3
Jannik Sinner - 3
Rafael Nadal - 3
Novak Djokovic leads this chart, having won 10 matches against top 10 players out of a total of 13 played. These wins also include his performances at the ATP Cup earlier in the year, where he had defeated Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev and Gael Monfils.
Djokovic’s losses against top 10 opponents came at the hands of Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, and Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Dominic Thiem is second with seven top 10 wins. The Austrian faced top 10 opponents 11 times, losing twice to Andrey Rublev (Vienna and ATP Finals) and once each to Daniil Medvedev (ATP Finals) and Novak Djokovic (Australian Open).
Medvedev incidentally was nowhere close to being in the list before the last month of the season. However, he racked up an astonishing seven top 10 wins in the space of two tournaments - at Paris and London - to join Djokovic and Thiem in the top 3.
Rafael Nadal managed just three top 10 wins in 2020, having played against such players on eight occasions. The Spaniard lost to Djokovic at the ATP Cup, Thiem at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev at the Paris Masters, and Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem at the ATP Finals.
Most wins on tour in 2020: Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev lead the way
Here is the list of players with the most total match wins in 2020:
Novak Djokovic - 41
Andrey Rublev - 41
Stefanos Tsitsipas - 29
Alexander Zverev - 28
Daniil Medvedev - 28
Rafael Nadal - 27
Diego Schwartzman - 25
Dominic Thiem - 25
Ugo Humbert - 24
Quite expectedly, Novak Djokovic leads this list by virtue of winning 41 of his 46 matches on tour. Andrey Rublev registered the same number of wins but he played five more matches than the Serb.
Rafael Nadal needed 34 matches to register his 27 wins, whereas Dominic Thiem required the same number of matches for his 25.
Returning stats - best break point conversion rate and best return games won percentage
Best break-point conversion in percentages
Rafael Nadal is the only top 3 player to feature on this list, surprisingly.
Mikhail Kukushkin - 54.64
Rafael Nadal - 49.28
Laslo Djere - 48.97
Diego Schwartzman - 47.67
Grigor Dimitrov - 46.36
Borna Coric - 45.81
Mackenzie McDonald - 45.12
Karen Khachanov - 45.02
Filip Krajinovic - 44.67
Andrey Rublev - 44.17
Juan Ignacio Londero - 44.00
Alexander Zverev - 43.81
Best return games won percentage
Widely considered to be the greatest returner of all time, Novak Djokovic finds himself perched on top of this chart. Rafael Nadal finds himself in the third spot, but Dominic Thiem does not feature in the list at all.
Novak Djokovic - 43.28
Diego Schwartzman - 43.10
Rafael Nadal - 42.67
Roberto Bautista Agut - 42.64
Dominik Koepfer - 40.91
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina - 40.69
Gilles Simon - 40.53
Pedro Martinez - 40.37
Andrey Rublev - 40.30
Marton Fucsovics - 40.27
Grigor Dimitrov - 40.08
Jannik Sinner - 40.05
Daniil Medvedev - 40.04