Dazzling Decade: Best Players, Rivalries, Records & More

Another decade of thrilling tennis on the ATP Tour has come and gone, with points, matches, tournaments and moments that will remain fixed in fans’ memories throughout the world for years to come.

Entering the decade, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had already cemented their status as two of the best players in the history of the sport. They were named two of ATPTour.com’s five best players of the 2000s, with the rest of the names on that list retiring.

Federer and Nadal continued to build upon their legacy, thriving and even improving parts of their game, but Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka joined them as the dominant forces in the tennis world throughout the 2010s.

Those five men combined to win 198 tour-level titles over the past 10 years, including 39 of the decade’s 40 Grand Slam championships. The only player outside of this group to win a major trophy was former World No. 3 Marin Cilic at the 2014 US Open.

The quintet also won 72 of the decade’s 90 ATP Masters 1000 titles, and seven of the 10 Nitto ATP Finals crowns. Djokovic (275 weeks), Nadal (160), Federer (45) or Murray (41) held the No. 1 ATP Ranking for the entirety of the past 10 years. Any time these five players competed, all eyes were on them. Any time they stood across the net from one another was a special occasion, with anticipation levels ramped up.

Each day this week, ATPTour.com will look back on the past 10 years for Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Nadal and Wawrinka, examining why they are the players of the 2010s.

Also in the Best of the Decade series, we will examine the best doubles from the past 10 years as well as the best records, achievements, stats and rivalries.