Djokovic's Dominance & Rublev's Ascent: Stats Of 2020

  • Posted: Dec 15, 2020

The ATP Tour season had plenty of thrilling storylines, from Novak Djokovic earning a record-tying sixth year-end No. 1 finish in the FedEx ATP Rankings to Andrey Rublev stepping into the spotlight.

In the first of a two-part story, ATPTour.com looks at the stats to remember from 2020.

ATP Tour Match Wins Leaders

 Player  2020 W/L Record  2020 Titles
 1) Novak Djokovic  41-5  4
 Andrey Rublev  41-10  5
 3) Stefanos Tsitsipas  29-14  1
 4) Daniil Medvedev  28-10  2
 Alexander Zverev  28-11  2

It is no shock to see Djokovic atop the 2020 match wins leaderboard (41-5), but perhaps it is surprising to see Rublev right alongside him. The Russian had the best season of his career, tying Djokovic with 41 tour-level victories. The year-end World No. 8 went 19-2 at ATP 500s this year, claiming three of his ATP Tour-leading five titles at that level. Rublev began the season with two crowns at tour-level.

2020 Hard Court Leaders

 Player  2020 W/L Record (Hard)  2020 Titles (Hard)
 1) Andrey Rublev  31-8  4
 2) Novak Djokovic  30-4  3
 3) Daniil Medvedev  28-8  2
 4) Alexander Zverev  25-10  2
 5) Milos Raonic  22-8  0
 Felix Auger-Aliassime  22-16  0

Rublev won as many hard-court titles (4) as Djokovic claimed on all surfaces this year (4). The Russian earned a Tour-leading 31 hard-court victories. Even so, Djokovic was once again ruthless on hard courts in 2020, winning three of his four titles on the surface. Three of the Serbian’s hard-court losses came in his final two tournaments of the season (Vienna, London). The World No. 1’s winning percentage on hard (88.2%) was more than eight points better than the next player on the list, Gael Monfils (16-4, 80%).

2020 Clay Court Leaders

 Player  2020 W/L Record (Clay)  2020 Titles (Clay)
 1) Casper Ruud  17-6  1
 2) Cristian Garin  15-4  2
 Diego Schwartzman  15-4  0
 4) Novak Djokovic   11-1  1
 Stefanos Tsitsipas  11-3  0
 Laslo Djere  11-4  1

Casper Ruud topped the clay match wins leaderboard, claiming his first ATP Tour title in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While Rafael Nadal didn’t make the list, he lifted his 13th Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros, and improved his career record on the surface to 445-40. The active player with the second-most tour-level victories on clay is Fernando Verdasco with 230.

2020 Indoors Leaders

 Player  2020 W/L Record (Indoors)  2020 Titles (Indoors)
 1) Andrey Rublev  14-4  2
 Daniil Medvedev  14-4  2
 Felix Auger-Aliassime  14-8  0
 4) Alexander Zverev  13-3  2
 5) Vasek Pospisil  12-6  0

Felix Auger-Aliassime was unable to claim his first tour-level trophy in 2020, but he excelled indoors, where he made all three of his finals this year (Rotterdam, Marseille, Cologne-1). The Canadian #NextGenATP star was tied for the ATP Tour-lead with 14 indoor victories this year (14-8), matching Top 10 stalwarts Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, both of whom were 14-4.

Tie-Break Wins

 Player  Tie-Break Wins
 1) Dominic Thiem  17-11
 2) Novak Djokovic  15-2
 John Isner  15-9
 4) Ugo Humbert  14-6
 Felix Auger-Aliassime  14-9

Dominic Thiem played 28 tie-breaks this year in 34 tour-level matches. Four of his tie-break victories (17-11 overall) came at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he reached the championship match for the second consecutive year. One of those tie-breaks came in the final set of his London semi-final against Djokovic, who entered the decider with an impressive 15-1 record in tie-breaks this season.

Top 10 Wins

 Player  Top 10 Wins
 1) Novak Djokovic  10-3
 2) Dominic Thiem  8-4
 3) Daniil Medvedev  7-2
 4) Andrey Rublev  4-5
 T5) Denis Shapovalov  3-2
 Jannik Sinner  3-4
 Rafael Nadal  3-5
 Alexander Zverev  3-6

Throughout the year, Thiem excelled against the best players in the world, earning an 8-4 record against the Top 10. This continues a trend for Thiem, who has played superbly against the world’s best in recent years. In 2019 and 2020, he went a combined 9-3 against the Big Three (Djokovic, Federer, Nadal). This year, he went 1-1 against Djokovic and 2-0 against Nadal.

ATP Masters 1000 Wins

 Player  ATP Masters 1000 Wins  Titles
 1) Novak Djokovic  10-0  2
 Milos Raonic  10-3  0
 3) Daniil Medvedev  7-1  1
 Diego Schwartzman  7-3  0
 5)  Rafael Nadal   5-2  0
 Denis Shapovalov  5-2  0
 Ugo Humbert  5-3  0
 Filip Krajinovic  5-3  0

Djokovic began 2020 with 34 ATP Masters 1000 titles, one off Nadal’s record 35. But the Serbian tied the Spaniard at the  before taking the lead with a victory at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. He went undefeated in the two Masters 1000 events he played this year (10-0).

Decisive Set Wins

 Player  Decisive Set Wins
 1) Daniil Medvedev  9-4
 Diego Schwartzman  9-5
 Cristian Garin  9-5
 Daniel Evans  9-6
 Ugo Humbert  9-6

Medvedev won his last five deciding sets of the year, including two en route to the Rolex Paris Masters title and two at the Nitto ATP Finals, in the semi-finals and championship match, respectively. The Russian also tied for the ATP Tour-lead with eight victories in 2020 after losing the first set (8-8). Garin also had eight, but lost more matches (8-12).

Read All Best Of 2020 Stories

– Research contributed by Greg Sharko

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