Tennis Stats for The Big Four

The Federer v. Djokovic rivalry has become a classic hero v. villain narrative that has been played out 48 times to date. Like any of these stories, the longer the villain has power over the hero, the more anger is pointed towards the villain. The Hero  Federer hits a forehand v Nadal at Wimbledon 2019  The dictionary tells us it is 'a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.' Etymologically the word Hero comes from Greek hērōs meaning demi-god or illustrious man.This is of uncertain origin; perhaps originally "defender or protector". Roland Garros in the 1990s became even more specialised in terms of who had a chance of winning it outright. A lot of the champions at Roland Garros in the 90's and early 00's would see their only Grand Slam victories coming on the clay, that was the level of specialisation on that surface. When Nadal managed the RG and Wimbledon double in 2008 it was hailed as a miraculous

Today's Wimbledon Final between two of the greatest ever is almost sure to be a classic. This rivalry rarely throws up a match that isn't a classic.  Djokovic is Number 1 for a Reason Djokovic is deservedly seeded 1 and favourite to regain his title. His record this year has been been to win 90% of his matches, with only 1 Grand Slam loss in 2019 and that has been his only loss since Roland Garros in 2018. Federer's record for 2019 and Career win-loss are also very impressive numbers.  With 2 losses in Slams so far, to Nadal at Roland Garros at the Semi-Final stage and the shock loss to Tsitsipas in Australia. Head to Head  Djokovic has a slight advantage their Head to Head. Federer's last win against Djokovic was at the 2015 ATP Finals in London. They have just played on 3 occasions since with Djokovic taking all 3 matches. Just one of those was in the Slams at the 2016 Australian. They had 2 meetings in 2018 and the last of those was a ve

After today's easy win for Nadal, he now sits at 15 Grand Slam wins and only 3 behind Federer. Nadal wins his 10th Roland Garros title, another record! We all love the 'greatest of all time' debates in sport but in tennis being individual is a little more clean cut than team sports such as football... or is it? How do we begin to compare the greatest tennis players of all time? I mean we would expect Nadal or Federer to easily defeat Bjorn Borg or Rod Laver if they used the physical tools of their respective eras. Sport evolves and to call out the greatest of all time is always a hypothetical or statistical argument, but something that can never be proven no matter how emotional the debate becomes. In tennis circles, there is a rare concurrency in views that the greatest players in the history of the sport are still active.. very active based on the last two Grand Slam results. We usually wait until players finish out their careers so we can then apply our 'ob

There is no question that the Big Four of tennis is no longer. Whilst Federer and Nadal are still active and producing high level tennis, they don't have that edge anymore to win slams (hope they prove me wrong).  The 'Big Two' has definitely been the case for the 2016 season as Murray and Djokovic have played each other in two finals at Australia and RG with Murray having made all 3 to date. Including the US Open Final of 2011, when Djokovic lost to Nadal, either Djokovic or Murray have been in 21 of the 24 finals since then. They have met in 7 of those finals and Djokovic leads the H2H 5-2. It feels like Murray's current form will see him take his fourth career Grand Slam in New York and I see Djokovic making the final, this will take the series to 5-3. The Lendl factor has by no coincidence changed Murray's fortune in their second stint together, he is such a calming influence on Murray and enables Murray to play his best tennis. In hindsight looking at the fi

Only a day away to the final day of Wimbledon 2016, arguably the most important day in the tennis calendar. The final will see Andy Murray, one of that famous big four, take on Milos Raonic. This will be only their second meeting on grass, with the last just 3 weeks ago at Queen's Club. That match was very close and the level of tennis was very high, a feel for things to come. Big serve There is no doubt the big server still enjoys the benefits that grass serves up (no pun intended). The ball slides on the bounce and therefore a player such as Raonic will expect many easy points on his serve. So far this Wimbledon he has managed 137 aces in 6 matches. At Queen's Club the serving stats were very good for both players in their final. Murray served 74% on his 1st serve in that final, compared to 65% against Berdych and 61% against Tsonga is his last two Wimbledon matches. He will want to get that % up to Queen's level to ensure he protects himself for getting broke.