Novak Djokovic has come back from 0/40 on serve to hold just 15 per cent of the time this season leading into the Mutua Madrid Open.

Crunch time against Andy Murray in the Madrid final came right at the finish line, with Djokovic impressively escaping a 0/40 hole whilst serving at 5-3 in the third set to claim a record 29th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.

Djokovic miraculously saved seven break points in the 13-minute, 40-second game, which spanned six deuces of pulsating action before finally triumphing 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Performance on break points was a strength of the Serb all week, as he was only broken once for the tournament in the semi-finals against Kei Nishikori.

Djokovic consistently elevated his game down break point in the earlier rounds, pushing harder in the important moments to pressure critical errors from his opponents.

Through to the final, Djokovic’s average first serve speed for the tournament was 182 km/h (113 mph) , but that ramped up to 191 km/h (119 mph) when down break point. And just for good measure, he made a first serve on all nine of those break points.

That form initially held true against Murray, with Djokovic making a first serve facing his first break point, leading 6-2, 1-2, 30/40. Murray eventually missed a forehand approach long, and then Djokovic’s form guide on big points was thrown out the window.

Djokovic was broken on the next point when he double faulted. The only other time Djokovic was broken for the match, leading 2-0, 30/40 in the third set, he double faulted again.

Set 1: Spreading the Court

Djokovic won a massive 80 per cent (20/25) of the baseline exchanges in the opening set, owning the directional battle wide on both sides of the court. The Serb directed 47 per cent of his shots in the opening set wide through the Ad court, 48 per cent wide in the Deuce court, and only three shots (five per cent) were directed to the the middle third of court.

This enabled Djokovic to notch up five forehand winners and four backhand winners, while Murray failed to register a single groundstroke winner. Once a rally matured past four shots, Djokovic won a staggering 82 per cent (14/17), including 90 per cent (9/10) in the rally length between five and nine shots. Murray was constantly on defense, running 516 metres in the set to Djokovic’s 488 metres.

Set 2: Depth is the Diamond

Murray turned things around early in the second set, winning five of the first six baseline exchanges in the opening two games.

In the first set, Murray was only able to get 22 per cent of his shots to land closer to the baseline than the service line, mainly due to Djokovic’s superior court position and placement.

Murray built a 4-1 lead in the second set by improving his depth, making a substantially higher 42 per cent of his shots land closer to the baseline than the service line.

Murray’s second serve performance also drastically improved. He only won 17 per cent in this key area in the first set, but greatly elevated that number to 60 per cent in the second set.

Murray’s average second serve speed in the 2015 season was only 141 km/h (88 mph), but it was a substantially higher 155 km/h (96mph) this year in Madrid. In the second set, Murray ramped it up even more to average 159 km/h (99 mph).

Rally Length

It’s interesting to note that a classic clay-court battle between two of the world’s best groundstroke maestros still produced more short points than long ones. More than half of all points (52 per cent) were contested in the 0-4 shot range. Twenty nine per cent were in the 5-9 shot range, and just 19 per cent were longer than nine shots.

Our eyes are naturally drawn to the drama of the longer points, but the top two players in the world wrestle far more over points containing a maximum of just two shots each.

There are 12 singles matches on Monday’s schedule at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with No. 10 seed Milos Raonic, No. 11 Richard Gasquet, No. 13 Dominic Thiem and No. 14 Gael Monfils leading the way. In addition, five Italians, including the top two of Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi, are in action.

Leading off on Center Court is Raonic against wild card Marco Cecchinato in a second-time meeting. Last month, Raonic won 63 75 in the first round at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo. The 25-year-old Canadian is the only player this season to reach the quarter-finals or better in all four ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. He is off to a 23-5 start this season and back in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings for the second week in a row for the first time since last October. The No. 119th-ranked Cecchinato is facing his first Top 10 opponent in his career.

In the third match on, Fognini brings a 4-2 career record (3-1 on clay) against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Fognini is making his ninth tournament appearance (5-8 record) and his best result is the 3R last year. Garcia-Lopez looks to even his season match record (12-13). His best showing in Rome is also the 3R in 2010 and last year.

In the evening session, Next Generation teenage star Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov square off for the third time (tied 1-1), the first on clay. Zverev won the last meeting in the 2R at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells in March. The 19-year-old German, who is making his Rome debut, enters with a 16-11 match record on the season. Dimitrov, a semi-finalist in Rome two years ago, is ranked No. 35 this week, the first time he’s been out of the Top 30 Emirates ATP Rankings since Aug. 5, 2013 at No. 31.

On Grandstand, Frenchmen Gasquet and Julien Benneteau meet for the fourth time on the ATP World Tour, the first on clay. Gasquet won all three previous meetings, winning six of seven sets. In the next match on, another Next Generation member, 21-year-old Nick Kyrgios, takes on wild card Salvatore Caruso, who is playing in his first career ATP World Tour main draw. Kyrgios has reached the quarter-finals or better in five of seven tournaments this season and he is looking for his 20th match win of the year (19-6). In the final match on is Thomaz Bellucci and Monfils, who owns a 3-0 record against the Brazilian. Monfils has rallied to win their last two meetings after dropping the opening set. Monfils, a semi-finalist in Rome in his 2006 debut, is playing here for the first time since 2012.

On Pietrangeli, the third match on features Seppi and Canadian No. 2 Vasek Pospisil. They have split their previous four hard court meetings. Seppi is playing in his first tournament since ATP Masters 1000 Miami in March. In the next match on, No. 1 Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov and Thiem meet for the third time (tied 1-1), the first on clay. The 22-year-old Thiem is aiming for his 30^th match win of the season (29-9). Last year he didn’t win his 30^th match until the 1R at the US Open in late August.

It was 10 years ago, on the indoor hard courts of the Madrid Arena, that a pair of 19-year-olds, World No. 17 Novak Djokovic and No. 19 Andy Murray squared off for the first time on the ATP World Tour.

Already friends from their junior days, the Scot and Serb would kick start what would become a burgeoning rivalry. Djokovic rallied from a set down to take that initial encounter in the third round of the 2006 Mutua Madrid Open, and 10 years and 32 meetings later they would clash once again in the Spanish capital. Same match-up, same dramatic battle. Djokovic claimed an unprecedented 29th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown with a highly-entertaining 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Murray on Sunday and the top seed reflected on how far they have come.

“Ten years after the result is different, but 10 years later we are the two best players in the world as well,” said Djokovic. “At that time maybe it seemed like something that will be very challenging for us to achieve. But we both thrived to be at the top and we’ve known each other since we were 12. I think you can see already in those junior days that both of us have serious intentions to conquer the tennis world and try to make a serious mark.”

“I’m very pleased that I have developed a great rivalry with somebody that I’ve known for a very long time and somebody that I have a very good and friendly relationship with on and off the court.”

Read: Novak & Andy – The Rivalry

Their strong relationship was never more evident than midway through the third set on Sunday, with Djokovic serving up 4-2 30/30. The eventual champion received a time violation warning, to which Murray interjected, defending his longtime rival: “I was the one keeping him waiting. I made him wait. He was ready five seconds ago.” The act of sportsmanship in such a critical moment revealed their mutual respect for one another. Djokovic was quick to point to that moment.

“It was truly something that is unusual, honestly, to see at the highest levels,” Djokovic added. “I always like to look back at those moments and take that as a highlight rather than only results and rivalries and who wants to beat who more and stuff like this.

“I think it’s nice to see in the midst of this important match that you’re showing your human side and expressing your character values that unfortunately in this sports society are not seen often. I’m glad we have done that and send the right message to many young kids and tennis players.”

Djokovic went on to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head edge over Murray to 23-9, having claimed 12 of their previous 13 encounters. Another final encounter could be in the cards next week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where they are the top two seeds once again.

Novak, Rafa Lead Strong Field: The Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the fifth ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season, is headlined by every member of the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings (and 17 of the Top 20 overall). The past 11 titles in Rome have been won by reigning two-time champion (four overall) Novak Djokovic and seven-time winner Rafael Nadal. The last player to win the Rome crown other than Djokovic or Nadal was Carlos Moya in 2004. In the 11 previous years from 1994-2004, there were 10 different winners with Thomas Muster the only multiple champ in 1995-96. Nadal has a 47-4 record in Rome while Djokovic owns a 34-5 record.

Big Title Kings: For the first time ever the trio of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are seeded together in the same half of the draw in Rome. The trio have combined to win 133 Big Titles in their career, which consists of Grand Slam, ATP Masters 1000 and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals level tournaments. Over the past five-plus years (since 2011), the trio have combined to win 83 per cent (40 of 48) of ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Federer leads the way with 47 Big Titles: 24 ATP Masters 1000, 17 Grand Slam and six Barclays ATP World Tour Finals crowns. Djokovic follows with 44 Big Titles, 28 coming in ATP Masters 1000 level, 11 Grand Slam and five Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Nadal has 42 Big Titles on his resume with 28 coming at ATP Masters 1000 level and 14 Grand Slam.                                              

Big Four Title Holders: Going into Madrid, in 51 of the past 55 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (since 2010 Monte-Carlo), one of the Big Four: Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal have lifted the trophy. During that stretch, Djokovic has won 23 titles, Nadal 13, Federer, eight and Murray, seven. Since 2013, one of the Big Four has reached the past 30 ATP Masters 1000 finals.

Novak Rolling Along: World No. 1 and reigning two-time champion Novak Djokovic returns to Rome for the 10^th straight year (34-5 record). He is looking for his fifth title in Rome. Djokovic won last year’s title over No. 2 Federer and two years ago beat No. 1 Nadal in three sets. He also won titles in 2008 (d. Wawrinka) and 2011 (d. Nadal). His most recent loss in Rome came in 2013, when he lost to Berdych in the quarte-finals. He has never lost before the quarter-finals in his nine previous appearances. As of May 9, Djokovic is two weeks away from reaching 200 weeks at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Djokovic will reach the 200 week milestone on May 23. He will become the fifth player in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings to hold No. 1 at least 200 weeks in his career. He owns an ATP World Tour-best five titles, including the Australian Open and ATP Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid.

Rafa in Rome: The most successful player in tournament history is seven-time champion Rafael Nadal, who owns a 47-4 career record. He has reached the final in six of the past seven years and nine overall in 11 visits. Last year his streak of six straight finals ended when he fell to Wawrinka in the quarter-finals. He won titles in 2005-07, ’09-10, ’12-13 and was runner-up in 2011 and ‘14. The only other time he didn’t reach the final was in 2008 (l. to Ferrero in 2R). Nadal is trying to win a fourth different tournament at least eight times. He’s won Barcelona, Monte-Carlo and Roland Garros nine times.

Rafa on Clay: Nadal, who has won at least two European ATP World Tour clay court titles coming into Roland Garros in 10 of the past 12 years (2005-13, ‘16), is putting together a solid season on clay. The 29-year-old Spaniard is 13-1 on European clay courts this season. If he wins Rome, it will be the ninth time in his career he’s won three European clay court titles leading into Roland Garros.

Murray Clay Improvement: Going into the Madrid final, Andy Murray has won 24 of 26 matches on clay (.923) during 2015-16, including a career-best 17-1 record last season with two titles. Prior to last year Murray, had never reached a clay court final. Murray has an 88-39 career record (.693) on clay.

Roger Eyes First Title, Milestone: Roger Federer is attempting to capture his first title in Rome in 16 appearances (31-15 record). His first career ATP World Tour title came in Italy in 2001 Milan. He’s a four-time finalist in Rome: 2003 (l. to Mantilla), ’06 and ’13 (l. to Nadal both times) and last year (l. to Djokovic). This is only Federer’s fourth tournament t of the season. He withdrew from Madrid last week due to a back injury after a knee injury sidelined him after the Australian Open. Federer is two match wins away from tying Ivan Lendl on the Open Era career match wins list. Federer has 1,069 wins and Lendl 1,071. Jimmy Connors is the all-time leader with 1,256 wins.

Milos on the Move: The youngest player in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings is 25-year-old Milos Raonic, who returned to the Top 10 on May 2 for the first time since Oct. 26, 2015. Raonic is the only player on the ATP World Tour this season to reach the quarter-finals or better at the first four ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. He comes into Rome with a 23-5 match record on season. Two years ago, he advanced to the semi-finals in Rome, losing to Djokovic in three sets.

Next Generation Update: There are three Next Gen players in the main draw, led by Nick Kyrgios, who is coming off a quarter-final in Madrid (l. to Nishikori). The 21-year-old Aussie is making his second straight appearance in Rome while teenagers Borna Coric and Alexander Zverev are appearing in the main draw for the first time.

Outstanding Doubles Field: For the second week in a row, the doubles draw features nine of the Top 10 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings:

1) Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares

2) Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut

3) Treat Huey & Max Mirnyi       

T4) Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan

T4) Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah

6) Daniel Nestor & Radek Stepanek

7) Feliciano Lopez & Marc Lopez

8) Pablo Cuevas & Marcel Granollers

10) Raven Klaasen & Rajeev Ram

Former Doubles Champions: There are nine former doubles champions in the field:

Pablo Cuevas (2015)

Daniel Nestor (1997, 2006, 2009, 2014)

Nenad Zimonjic (2007, 2009, 2014)

Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (2008, 2013)

Marcel Granollers (2012)

Marc Lopez (2012)

Sam Querrey (2011)

Max Mirnyi (2004)

In Case You Missed It

Novak Djokovic secured a record 29th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Madrid. Read

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau made an important breakthrough in winning the Madrid doubles title. Read

Andy Murray credits improved movement for the uptick in his results on clay in the past two years. Read

Enrique Lopez-Perez is climbing up the rankings thanks to recent results on several surfaces. Read

Nick Kyrgios hit one of the best Hot Shots of the season at the Mutua Madrid Open. Watch

Birthdays

9 May – Gilles Muller (33)

15 May – Leonard Mayer (29)

Ranking Movers

+16 Filip Krajinovic (98)

+15 Denis Istomin (64)

+11 Daniel Evans (86)

+11 Dudi Sela (63)

+9 Santiago Giraldo (96)

+6 Kyle Edmund (82)

Milestones

Rome Singles

Julien Benneteau – 245 wins

Jeremy Chardy – 199 wins

Joao Sousa – 97 wins

Aljaz Bedene – 45 wins

Rome Doubles

Andreas Seppi – 98 wins

Jeremy Chardy – 97 wins