Djokovic & Thiem: The 2019 Title Kings

  • Posted: Dec 19, 2019

Djokovic & Thiem: The 2019 Title Kings

Best of 2019 By The Numbers: Part 1

Continuing ATPTour.com’s Best of 2019 series, we look at some of the most noteworthy stats from the season, and how they contributed to how the year played out. 

Singles Title Leaders In 2019
There was no runaway leader for most singles titles in 2019, with Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem each lifting five trophies. In Dubai, Roger Federer, who claimed four titles on the season, became the second player to crack the 100-title mark, and he is now within six triumphs of Jimmy Connors’ record 109 tour-level trophies.

 Player  Hard  Clay  Grass  Total Titles
 Novak Djokovic  3  1  1  5
 Dominic Thiem  3  2  0  5
 Roger Federer  3    0  1  4
 Daniil Medvedev  4  0  0  4
 Rafael Nadal  2  2  0  4

Most Singles Finals In 2019
One of the most impressive runs of 2019 came when Daniil Medvedev reached the final of six straight tour-level events he played in, a stretch that included his first ATP Masters 1000 final (Montreal), Masters 1000 title (Cincinnati) and Grand Slam final (US Open).

 Player  Finals
 Daniil Medvedev  9 (4-5)
 Dominic Thiem  7 (5-2)
 Novak Djokovic  6 (5-1)
 Roger Federer  6 (4-2)
 Stefanos Tsitsipas  6 (3-3)

Doubles Title Leaders
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah followed up their breakthrough campaign in 2018 by finishing year-end No. 1 in 2019, winning five tour-level titles together along the way.

 Player  Titles
 Juan Sebastian Cabal  5
 Robert Farah  5
 Pierre-Hugues Herbert  4
 Nicolas Mahut  4
 Ivan Dodig  4
 Edouard Roger-Vasselin  4

Players who were trying to win their first ATP Tour title went 15-22 in finals in 2019. The 15 champions is the most first-time winners in a season since 1999 when there were 16 (13-20 in 2018 finals). This year’s first-time titlists were Alex de Minaur (Sydney), Tennys Sandgren (Auckland), Juan Ignacio Londero (Cordoba), Reilly Opelka (New York), Laslo Djere (Rio de Janeiro), Radu Albot (Delray Beach), Guido Pella (Sao Paulo), Cristian Garin (Houston), Adrian Mannarino (‘s-Hertogenbosch), Taylor Fritz (Eastbourne), Lorenzo Sonego (Antalya), Nicolas Jarry (Bastad), Dusan Lajovic (Umag), Hubert Hurkacz (Winston-Salem) and Denis Shapovalov (Stockholm).

Youngest Champions

 Player  Tournament  Age
 Alex de Minaur  Sydney  19 years, 11 months
 Denis Shapovalov  Stockholm  20 years, 6 months, 5 days
 Stefanos Tsitsipas  Marseille  20 years, 6 months, 12 days
 Reilly Opelka  New York  21 years, 5 months
 Taylor Fritz  Eastbourne  21 years, 8 months

Youngest Finals 
Stuttgart: Matteo Berrettini (23) d. Felix Auger-Aliassime (18)
Atlanta: Alex de Minaur (20) d. Taylor Fritz (21)
Rio de Janeiro: Laslo Djere (23) d. Felix Auger-Aliassime (18)

Oldest Champions

 Player  Tournament  Age
 Roger Federer  Basel  38 years, 2 months
 Feliciano Lopez  London/Queen’s Club  37 years, 9 months
 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga  Metz  34 years, 5 months
 John Isner  Newport  34 years, 3 months
 Rafael Nadal  US Open  33 years, 3 months

Oldest Finals
Pune: Kevin Anderson (32) d. Ivo Karlovic (39)
London/Queen’s Club: Feliciano Lopez (37) d. Gilles Simon (34)
Miami: Roger Federer (37) d. John Isner (33)

Lowest-Ranked Champions
One of the most memorable moments of the season came in October at the European Open, where Andy Murray won his first ATP Tour singles title since February 2017. The Scot emerged victorious from a captivating three-set final against former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, who was seeking his first crown since May 2017.

 Player  Tournament  ATP Ranking
 Andy Murray  Antwerp  No. 243
 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga  Montpellier  No. 213
 Feliciano Lopez  London/Queen’s Club  No. 113
 Juan Ignacio Londero  Cordoba  No. 112
 Laslo Djere  Rio de Janeiro  No. 90

Finals Between Top 10 Players: 12
Finals Between Top 5 Players: 5
Titles Won Without Losing A Set: 18
Champions Who Saved Match Point During Tournament: 10

Titlists Who Saved Championship Point

 Player  Opponent  Tournament  Match Points Saved
 Radu Albot  Daniel Evans  Delray Beach  3
 Alexander Zverev  Nicolas Jarry  Geneva  2
 Lorenzo Sonego  Miomir Kecmanovic  Antalya  1
 Novak Djokovic  Roger Federer  Wimbledon  2

Longest Best-of-Three Match: Lorenzo Sonego def. Federico Delbonis, Kitzbühel R1, 3:36
Longest Final: Radu Albot def. Daniel Evans 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7), Delray Beach, 2:51
Shortest Final: Taylor Fritz def. Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-4, Eastbourne, 1:01

Repeat Champions

 Rafael Nadal  Rome
 Rafael Nadal  Roland Garros (three-peat)
 Novak Djokovic  Wimbledon
 Nikoloz Basilashvili  Hamburg
 Rafael Nadal  Canada
 Roger Federer  Basel (three-peat)

Most Titles By Country
Spaniards led the way in the titles department, lifting eight trophies this season. There were three all-countrymen finals in 2019, taking place in Cordoba (Argentines), Montpellier (Frenchmen) and Eastbourne (Americans).

 Country  Titles  Most Titles By One Player
 Spain  8  Rafael Nadal (4)
 Serbia  7  Novak Djokovic (5)
 France  6  Benoit Paire (2)
 Russia  5  Daniil Medvedev (4)
 Australia  5  Alex de Minaur (3)
 Austria  5  Dominic Thiem (5)
 Italy  5  Matteo Berrettini (2)

Most Wins Against The Top 10: Dominic Thiem, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas (9)
Most Decisive-Set Wins: Guido Pella, Borna Coric (17)
Most Wins After Losing First Set: Borna Coric (13)
Most Fifth-Set Wins: 5 (Kei Nishikori, Alexander Zverev 

Longest Winning Streaks

 Player  Winning Streak
 Rafael Nadal  17
 Rafael Nadal  14
 Daniil Medvedev  12
 Roger Federer  11
 Novak Djokovic  10

Biggest ATP Rankings Risers Into Top 100
This season, the two biggest risers in the ATP Rankings came from two opposite experience levels. Jannik Sinner, who turned 18 on 16 August, had never played a tour-level match before 2019. But he won 11 matches, including a season-ending triumph at the Next Gen ATP Finals. The youngest player in the Top 100 is up to a career-high World No. 78, one of eight Italians inside the Top 100.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has climbed as high as World No. 5, but he began this year at No. 259 due to a left knee injury that kept him out for seven months. The Frenchman bounced back, winning titles in Montpellier and Metz this year to finish the season at No. 29.

 Player  Ranking To Start ’19  Ranking To Finish ’19  Ranking Jump
Jannik Sinner   No. 763  No. 78  +685
 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga  No. 259  No. 29  +230
 Mikael Ymer  No. 281  No. 74  +207
 Soonwoo Kwon  No. 253  No. 88  +165
 Daniel Evans  No. 199  No. 42  +157

Did You Know?

  • Five qualifiers reached ATP Tour finals in 2019, but none of them lifted the trophy. In 2018, eight qualifiers won titles. 
  • The eventual champion won the first set in 55 of 66 tour-level finals in 2019.
  • There were 15 all tie-break matches in 2019, increasing from 10 in 2018.
  • Aussie Alexei Popyrin was the ATP Tour’s qualifying leader this season, earning his way into 10 tour-level tournaments through qualifying.
  • The top four seeds reached the semi-finals at both Roland Garros and Beijing this year.
  • Thomas Fabbiano won the longest singles tie-break of the season against Reilly Opelka, 17-15 in the first set of their second-round match at the Australian Open, won by Opelka.
  • Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin won the longest Match Tie-break of the year, 18-16, against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the Shanghai quarter-finals.  
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