Tennis Stats for The Big Four

As we enter today's final of the US Open, Novak Djokovic goes in as slight favourite. Djokovic is the defending Champion and leads the Head to Head with Murray 8-6. Interestingly, they have only met twice in the Slams and that was at the 2011 Australian Open final, and again this year in Melbourne at the Semi Final stage. In that 2011 final Djokovic stormed to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory and Murray never really got into the match. Djokovic did go on to dominate 2011 with some of the most amazing tennis we have seen. This year's semi final at Australia was a much tighter affair finishing 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-1, 7-5. This was an epic match and Murray showed he was able to match the Serb for the vast majority of the 4 hours 50 minutes battle.  If we look at the stats below, it would suggest Djokovic is also showing to be in slightly better shape than Murray. When compared side by side in 2012 Slam averages, Djokovic edges Murray in pretty much all of the key categories.

Andy Murray's destruction of Roger Federer at Centre Court yesterday was evidence of his potential to win big. This was something that Federer is not used to experiencing, this was a super performance by Murray. Maybe he can move on to top the Big Four, and maybe even do it by the end of 2012. Murray played yesterday with pure focus and looked very composed for the full match. This was his first ever victory over Federer in a best of 5 sets, only giving away a measly 7 games to games greatest ever player. The Wimbledon final was hyped so much that there was huge pressure on the Scot's shoulders. In that final Federer produced some genius shots at key moments to win out in the end. However, what Murray showed yesterday is that when relaxed he can hit those big winners at the key points too. These are the big points that separate the Grand Slam winners. Djokovic in the past 12 months has produced so many of those, the best being the forehand at last year's US Open when

The stats would tell us that Nadal has been getting closer in the last three Grand Slam finals against Djokovic. These are the 2011 finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, and the 2012 Australian Open final. Below are the stats showing how the matches are longer and Nadal is winning a bigger % of the points. With today's Roland Garros final on Clay, I have a feeling this one will go to Nadal. The question is if it does, how will Djokovic respond? Let's enjoy today's match between two of the games greatest, and good luck to both guys. Click on the image to enlarge:

With the Australian Open being the only completed Grand Slam so far in 2012, this comparison will be more complete when Roland Garros finishes on Sunday. So the stats below only show the Australian Open matches. I have taken the Big Four and compared their averages for 2011 to their performance at Australia in 2012.  First, lets look at the World Number 1, Djokovic. It is interesting how his match time increased significantly. He had those two epic five set matches in the semi and also in the final.  It also shows that he wasn't as strong on winning points on his serve, but made up for that when returning. His first serve percentage dropped significantly at Australia, which may have attributed to his longer matches. On overall points won his percentage increased, so it showed he was still in top form with the stats proving again why he is ranked number 1.

I have compiled averages from all matches played at the slams in 2011.  It is interesting how the points won averages (%) are in order of how the rankings finished for the year. When you look at Djokovic you can see he has the best averages overall, as his three victories would have suggested. Djokovic and Federer are the guys that impress the most when it comes to percentage of service points won, with Federer having a slight edge. In terms of percentage of return points won it is Nadal who is the strongest with Djokovic a close second. They both win more than 60% of points on their opponents second serve, which is very impressive. These numbers express what we already know in terms of both players ability to outrally their opponents from the baseline. It also means for Murray or Federer to get victories, a high first serve percentage is vital. The big question is can Djokovic keep this level going in 2012. His averages when winning this years Australian Open d

After an amazing 5 hour and 53 minute contest Novak Djokovic prevailed for the third successive time over Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam final.  Djokovic accepts victory, while Nadal ponders what could have been In 2011 Djokovic raised the bar and produced tennis that undermined Nadal's heavy topspin and general gameplan. At times in the Wimbledon and US Open finals, with Djokovic in the zone,  it resembled Neo keeping the rogue Agent Smith at bay in The Matrix. Nadal has been forced back to the drawing board to create a battleplan to get the number one ranking back. He has added weight to his racket and become more aggressive on the backhand side.  Despite the match being so close in the end on scoreline, Djokovic was the best player overall and thoroughly deserved the victory. Nadal's battling qualities were immense and who knows what would have happened if he had hit that easy backhand down the line at 4-2 in the fifth set (watch again on BBC site here ).

Very close in many ways.. As Federer and Nadal go into battle for the 29th time, their past throws up some interesting stats. Nadal leads the head to head 17-9 with 9 Grand Slams matches, out of which Federer has only won 2. His last victory came in one the five setter epic Wimbledon finals back in 2007. 2011 was supposedly a year in which Federer went into decline, but when broken down into plain numbers it doesn't seem that way at all. It is actually quite close overall, but one thing that may gain attention is how Nadal seems to work harder for his points. As shown below, Nadal took an average of 20 minutes more to finish a match. The numbers would also suggest Nadal was much more aggressive on the opponents second serve. However, Federer's serving stats are more solid and he would appear to get easier points on both first and second serves.  The coolest stat is the fact that they won the exact same percentage of points played over the four slams at 56

Andy Murray will step into the Rod Laver Arena to face Novak Djokovic for their 11th meeting of their professional careers on Friday. Interestingly, this is only their second meeting in a Grand Slam. Their only other meeting at a Slam ended in a straight sets victory in last year's Australian Open final. Having a look at first serve averages for both players from all matches played at last year's four Slams, the stats tell a very interesting story. The points won when first serve goes in is almost  identical with only 0.02% of difference. This makes intriguing reading considering this average is taken over 27 matches for Djokovic (one walkover) and 25 for Murray. The stats would tell us get if either of these guys gets a first serve in, they'll win 76.1 (give or take a tenth %) of those points. The trouble for Murray is that he got less than 60% of first serves in whilst Djokovic finished close to 70%. Djokovic  Murray 1st Serve % 68.01