Big Four Back Together Again In Melbourne

Posted: Jan 16, 2017

Big Four Back Together Again In Melbourne

Jan162017

An executive summary of what every fan should know about the coming weeks on the ATP World Tour

Big Four Back Together: The Big Four of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have accounted for 42 of the past 47 Grand Slam tournaments since Roland Garros in 2005 when Nadal won his first of 14 Grand Slam titles. During the current stretch, Nadal has won 14 titles, Federer 13, Djokovic 12 and Murray 3.

The three other players to win a Grand Slam title during the span are Stan Wawrinka, a three-time champion (2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros, 2016 US Open), Marin Cilic (2014 US Open) and Juan Martin del Potro (2009 US Open).

The Big Four have won past 11 of the past 13 titles in Melbourne since Federer won his first title in 2004. Djokovic leads the way with six titles followed by Federer (four) and Nadal (one). The trio, along with Wawrinka, are the former Australian Open champions in the draw.

Last season, the Big Four played in only three tournaments together. Here is a look at their results:

Player	Australian Open	Monte-Carlo	Rome
Murray	Finalist	SF	Champion
Djokovic	Champion	2R (Bye)	Finalist
Nadal	1R	Champion	QF
Federer	SF	QF	3R

Murray Eyes First Title: World No. 1 Andy Murray is the top seed in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career. Murray is the first British man to hold the top seed in a Slam since Bunny Austin at the 1939 Wimbledon.

Murray is making his 12^th straight appearance in Melbourne and he’s hoping to duplicate the feat of two of his rivals. Last season Djokovic won his first Roland Garros crown and Wawrinka his first US Open title, both in their 12^th tournament appearance.

Murray is trying to capture his first title after reaching the final five times (2010-11, 2013, 2015-16). He is 0-5 vs. Djokovic in Melbourne with his last four runner-up results coming to the Serbian. Murray has reached the final in a career-best six consecutive tournaments going back to last season and his 28-match winning streak came to an end with his final loss to Djokovic in Doha on 7 January.

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Novak Eyes Record: Two-time reigning champion (six overall) Novak Djokovic is trying to become the all-time leader with the most Australian Open singles titles. He is currently tied with Aussie great Roy Emerson with six titles. Djokovic is the No. 2 seed for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament since the 2014 Roland Garros.

Djokovic has won the title in five of the past six years (39-1 record) with his only loss coming to Wawrinka in the quarter-finals in 2014. Overall he has a 57-6 career record in Melbourne. The 29-year-old Serbian, who won titles in 2008, 2011-13, 2015-16, is one of three players to win at least three titles in a row at the Australian Open along with Aussies Jack Crawford (1931-33) and Emerson (1963-67). Djokovic opened the season by repeating his title in Doha (d. Murray).

Roger Returns: Federer is making his 18^th straight appearance at the Australian Open and he opens against qualifier Jurgen Melzer. The four-time Australian Open champion has an 80-13 match record. The Swiss superstar will be playing his first tour-level match since 8 July 2016 when he lost in five sets in the semi-finals to Milos Raonic at Wimbledon. He missed the rest of last season with a knee injury.

It is also Federer’s first appearance outside the Top 10 in Melbourne since 2002 when he was ranked No. 12 and his No. 17 seeding is his lowest in a Grand Slam since he came in unseeded at 2001 Roland Garros. Federer finished last season with a 21-7 match record and No. 16 ranking.

His streak of 14 consecutive years in the year-end Top 10 ended, which is second only to Jimmy Connors’ 16. Federer’s best result was a runner-up in Brisbane (l. to Raonic) in the opening week of the season.

His streak of 15 straight years with at least one ATP World Tour title also came to an end. Prior to Federer’s knee injury, he was still playing at a high level as indicated in the Infosys ATP Scores & Stats. He would have been in the Top 5 in the following categories if he had played enough matches to qualify:

First Serve Points Won 80%

Second Serve Points Won 56%

Service Games Won 90%

Career Double Slam: Nadal is trying to become the third player in men’s tennis history to win each Grand Slam singles title twice in his career. The 2009 Australian Open champ is a nine-time Roland Garros champion and two-time winner at Wimbledon and US Open.

Aussies Rod Laver and Roy Emerson are the other players to accomplish the feat. Laver won a calendar Grand Slam in 1962 and ’69 while Emerson earned six Melbourne titles and two each at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.

Nadal is the No. 9 seed, his lowest seed in a Grand Slam tournament since he was No. 10 at 2015 Wimbledon. It is Nadal’s lowest Australian Open seeding since he was unseeded in 2005. Nadal has a 45-10 record in Melbourne, reaching the quarter-finals or better in eight of the previous 11 visits. Last year he lost in the first round for the first time to countryman Fernando Verdasco in five sets.

All-Time Grand Slam Champions: Here are the all-time Grand Slam titles leaders:

W-L

1) Roger Federer 17-10

2) Pete Sampras 14-4

2) Rafael Nadal 14-6

4) Novak Djokovic 12-9

4) Roy Emerson 12-3

6) Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver 11-5 & 11-6

Grand Slam Champions: Six of the seven active Grand Slam champions (except del Potro) are in the main draw, led by six-time Australian Open champion Djokovic and four-time winner Federer. The six players have combined to win 50 Grand Slam singles titles:

Player	Age	No.	Grand Slam Titles
Roger Federer	35	17	2003-07, ’09, ’12 Wimbledon; 2004, ’06-07, ’10 Australian Open; 2004-08 US Open; 2009 Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal	30	14	2005-08, ’10-14 Roland Garros; 2008, ’10 Wimbledon; ’09 Australian Open; ’10, ’13 US Open
Novak Djokovic	29	12	2008, ’11-’12-’13, ’15-16 Australian Open; 2011, ’14-15 Wimbledon; 2011, ’15 US Open; 2016 Roland Garros
Andy Murray	29	3	2012 US Open; 2013, ’16 Wimbledon
Stan Wawrinka	31	3	2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros, 2016 US Open
Marin Cilic	28	1	2014 US Open

Final Breakthrough: There are six players in the main draw who have reached a Grand Slam final and are still looking to win a Slam title, including No. 3 Milos Raonic, who reached the 2016 Wimbledon final. Here’s a look at the players who have reached a Grand Slam final and are still in pursuit of a Grand Slam title:

Player Grand Slam Tournament Final

No. 3 Milos Raonic 2016 Wimbledon (l. to Murray)

No. 5 Kei Nishikori 2014 US Open (l. to Cilic)

No. 10 Tomas Berdych 2010 Wimbledon (l. to Nadal)

No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2008 Australian Open (l. to Djokovic)

No. 23 David Ferrer 2013 Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)

No. 36 Marcos Baghdatis 2006 Australian Open (l. to Federer)

Lopez Iron Man: Feliciano Lopez is appearing in his 60^th consecutive Grand Slam tournament in singles. The 35-year-old Spaniard joins Federer as the only players to compete in 60 or more consecutive Grand Slam singles events. Federer’s record of 65 in a row ended when he withdrew from Roland Garros last year.

Rank	Player	Consecutive Grand Slam Events Played
1. 2.	Roger Federer Feliciano Lopez	65 (2000 Aus Open-2016 Aus Open) 60* (2002 Roland Garros-2017 Aus Open)
3. 4.	Wayne Ferreira Fernando Verdasco	56 (1991 Aus Open-2004 US Open) 55* (2003 Wimbledon-2017 Aus Open)
5. 6. 7. 8.	Stefan Edberg Tomas Berdych David Ferrer Novak Djokovic	54 (1983 Wimbledon-1996 US Open) 52 (2003 US Open-2016 Wimbledon) 50 (2003 Aus Open-2015 Roland Garros) 49* (2005 Aus Open-2017 Aus Open)
	Guillermo Garcia-Lopez	49* (2005 Aus Open-2017 Aus Open)
10.	Stan Wawrinka	48* (2005 Roland Garros-2017 Aus Open)

Players in main draw in bold, *denotes a streak which is active through 2017 Australian Open

Grand Slam Match Wins Leaders: Federer is the all-time match wins leader (307) in Grand Slam history while Djokovic is No. 3 with 228 wins, Nadal tied for No. 7 (w/Sampras) with 203 wins, and Murray No. 10 with 176 wins. Here are the Top 10 Grand Slam match wins leaders (active players in bold):

W-L Titles

1) Roger Federer 307-51 17

2) Jimmy Connors 233-49 8

3) Novak Djokovic 228-36 12

4) Andre Agassi 224-53 8

5) Ivan Lendl 222-49 8

6) Roy Emerson 210-48 12

7) Rafael Nadal 203-31 14

Pete Sampras 203-38 14

9) Stefan Edberg 178-47 6

10) Andy Murray 176-40 3

Kyrgios, Tomic Lead Aussie Hopes: Mark Edmondson is the last Aussie to win the singles title on home soil in 1976 (d. Newcombe). Aussie No. 1 Nick Kyrgios, who reached the quarter-finals two years ago (l. to Murray), leads local title hopes. Kyrgios, who won a career-best three ATP World Tour titles last season, is one of 11 Aussies in the main draw. No. 2 Aussie Bernard Tomic, who is seeded No. 27, is making his ninth straight appearance (15-8 record). His best result is the fourth round in 2012, 2015-16. Wild card Alex De Minaur, 17, the youngest player in the draw, is making his debut.

Brothers In Draw: There are two sets of brothers in the singles main draw for the second straight Grand Slam tournament. Alexander and Mischa Zverev along with Gerald and Jurgen Melzer are in the draw. At last year’s US Open, the Zverevs were joined by Christian and Ryan Harrison. Last week Mischa Zverev improved to No. 50 and it marked the first time a brothers duo ranked in the Top 50 in the same week since 8 May 2006, with Olivier Rochus at No. 29 and brother Christophe No. 42.

Haas is Back: Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas is playing in his first tournament since October 2015 in Vienna. He’s the oldest player in the singles draw, less than three months away from his 39^th birthday on 3 April. Haas, who is the tournament director at the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells, has a protected ranking of No. 25. Haas has a 26-13 career record at the Australian Open with his best results the semi-finals in 2002 and 2007. His last visit in Melbourne was in 2014.

Radek Going Strong: Radek Stepanek qualified into the main draw. The 38-year-old Czech Republic native is the oldest Grand Slam qualifier since Aussie Mal Anderson (42) at the Australian Open in December 1977. Stepanek is the third-oldest Grand Slam qualifier in the Open Era, behind Anderson and Neale Fraser (40), who qualified at Wimbledon in 1974.

Sascha Leads #NextGenATP Stars: No. 24 seed Alexander Zverev is the youngest player in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. Last season the 19-year-old German became the first teenager to finish in the Top 25 (at No. 24) since Novak Djokovic (No. 16) and Andy Murray (No. 17) in 2006. He reached a career-high No. 20 on 17 October after winning his maiden ATP World Tour title in St. Petersburg. He was the first teenager to win an ATP title since Marin Cilic (19) at 2008 New Haven.

#NextGenATP Stars Shine: There are 15 #NextGen ATP players in the main draw. Here is a look at the young stars (listed in Emirates ATP Rankings order):

Rank Age

No. 24 Alexander Zverev, GER 19

No. 52 Karen Khachanov, RUS 20

No. 59 Borna Coric, CRO 20

No. 63 Daniil Medvedev, RUS 20

No. 93 Taylor Fritz, USA 19

No. 101 Jared Donaldson, USA 20

No. 105 Hyeon Chung, KOR 20

No. 108 Frances Tiafoe, USA (Q) 18

No. 131 Ernesto Escobedo, USA (Q) 20

No. 152 Andrey Rublev, RUS (Q) 19

No. 155 Quentin Halys, FRA (WC) 20

No. 190 Michael Mmoh, USA (WC) 19

No. 200 Noah Rubin, USA (Q) 20

No. 207 Alexander Bublik, KAZ + (Q) 19

No. 208 Reilly Opelka, USA + (Q) 19

+ Will break Top 200 after Australian Open

U.S. Leads Country Count: There are a tournament-high 14 Americans in the main draw, led by No. 19 John Isner and No. 20 Jack Sock, who broke the Top 20 for the first time after his title in Auckland. Five Americans qualified into the main draw, the most since 2007. Half of the Americans in the draw are 20 or younger and part of the #NextGenATP group:

No. 93 Taylor Fritz, USA 19

No. 101 Jared Donaldson, USA 20

No. 108 Frances Tiafoe, USA 18

No. 131 Ernesto Escobedo, USA 20

No. 190 Michael Mmoh, USA 19

No. 200 Noah Rubin, USA 20

No. 208 Reilly Opelka, USA + 19

+ Will break Top 200 after Australian Open

Note: The last Grand Slam tournament seven Americans (20 or younger) were in the main draw was the 2006 US Open.

Doubles Draw: The reigning champions are Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, last year’s No. 1 team in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who have finished No. 1 for 10 of the past 14 years, are six-time Australian Open champions. Their six titles are the second-most as a team in tournament history behind Bromwich-Quist (eight).

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Potential Match Wins Milestones

David Ferrer – 694

Philipp Kohlschreiber – 394

Fabio Fognini – 246

Gilles Muller – 196

Denis Istomin – 194

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