Soaring Sinner Highlights Stats Of 2020
Yesterday we began a two-part story on the best stats of 2020, looking at which players excelled this year by surface, against certain opponents and in pressure situations.
Now we’ll look at more interesting stats from the season, including Jannik Sinner’s sophomore leap, the season’s longest match and more.
Top Movers For Year-End Top 50 Finishers
| Player | Ranking Jump | Year-End 2019 vs. 2020 |
| 1) Jannik Sinner | +41 | No. 78 to No. 37* |
| 2) Casper Ruud | +27 | No. 54 to No. 27 |
| Ugo Humbert | +27 | No. 57 to No. 30* |
| 4) Kyle Edmund | +21 | No. 69 to No. 48 |
| 5) Lorenzo Sonego | +19 | No. 52 to No. 33 |
| Tennys Sandgren | +19 | No. 68 to No. 49 |
*Career-High
Sinner stepped into the spotlight in 2019 with a series of impressive wins throughout the year, but he made his biggest splash at the Next Gen ATP Finals, where he triumphed as a wild card.
This year, the Italian showed no interest in a “sophomore slump”. Sinner consistently continued his ascent, reaching a career-high No. 37 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, where he finished the year. He lifted his first ATP Tour trophy in Sofia.
Top Movers For Year-End Top 100 Finishers
| Player | Ranking Jump | Year-End 2019 vs. 2020 |
| 1) Vasek Pospisil | +89 | No. 150 to No. 61 |
| 2) Pedro Martinez | +86 | No. 171 to No. 85 |
| 3) Yannick Hanfmann | +75 | No. 174 to No. 99 |
| 4) Attila Balazs | +42 | No. 134 to No. 92 |
| 5) Jiri Vesely | +38 | No. 106 to No. 68 |
| Emil Ruusuvuori | +38 | No. 124 to No. 86 |
Vasek Pospisil, whose career-high FedEx ATP Ranking is No. 25, underwent back surgery in January 2019. The Canadian came back in a big way this year, climbing 89 spots to reach a year-end No. 61.
2020 Fast Facts
– The longest ATP Tour match of the season was Thiago Seyboth Wild’s 5-7, 7-6(3), 7-5 triumph against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Rio de Janeiro, which lasted three hours and 50 minutes. There were 19 ATP Tour matches that lasted more than three hours this year.
– There were four all tie-break matches in 2020. In one of those matches, Nick Kyrgios’ 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 7-6(5) victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the ATP Cup, there were no service breaks.
– Four qualifiers made an ATP Tour final in 2020, but none of them lifted the trophy. Those players were Corentin Moutet (Doha, l. to Rublev), Lloyd Harris (Adelaide, l. to Rublev), Gianluca Mager (Rio de Janeiro, l. to Garin) and Yannick Hanfmann (Kitzbuhel, l. to Kecmanovic).
– There were two lucky loser finalists this year: Pedro Sousa at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (l. to Ruud) and Lorenzo Sonego at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna (l. to Rublev).
– Two of 19 tour-level champions came from outside the Top 50 of the FedEx ATP Rankings this year: World No. 182 Seyboth Wild in Santiago and World No. 107 Jiri Vesely in Pune.
2020 First-Time Winners
| Player | Age | Tournament |
| Ugo Humbert | 21 | Auckland |
| Casper Ruud | 21 | Buenos Aires |
| Thiago Seyboth Wild | 19 | Santiago |
| Miomir Kecmanovic | 21 | Kitzbühel |
| John Millman | 31 | Nur-Sultan |
| Jannik Sinner | 19 | Sofia |
There were only six first-time winners in this year’s shortened season, as play was suspended for more than five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Five of the six first-time champions were 21-and-under. John Millman, a 31-year-old Aussie, earned ATP Tour glory at the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Titles Won Without Losing A Set
| Player | Sets Won | Tournament |
| Andrey Rublev | 8 | Doha |
| Gael Monfils | 10 | Rotterdam |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | 8 | Marseille |
| Rafael Nadal | 10 | Acapulco |
| Rafael Nadal | 21 | Roland Garros |
| Andrey Rublev | 10 | Vienna |
Six of this year’s champions triumphed without losing a set, and all of them were Top 10 players at the time. Nadal (Acapulco, Roland Garros) and Rublev (Doha, Vienna) both accomplished the feat twice.
Infosys ATP Stats – 2020 Leaders (at least 10 matches)
| Stat | Category Leader | Percentage |
| Service Games Won | Milos Raonic | 93.9% |
| Break Points Saved | John Isner | 77.2% |
| Return Games Won | Diego Schwartzman | 34.9% |
| Break Points Converted | Rafael Nadal | 49.3% |
Although the 2020 season was shortened due to COVID-19, there were no surprises in the season’s statistical leaders. Diego Schwartzman, who cracked the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time this year, led the ATP Tour in return games won at 34.9 per cent.
The Argentine has long tussled with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in this category — they are also the top three players in career return games won. But Schwartzman had the best returning season of his career, even topping his 2017 performance. That year he topped the Tour by winning 34.8 per cent of his return games.
Rapid Fire
Most Aces in Best-of-3 Match: 36, Reilly Opelka (l. to Cuevas, Adelaide R1)
Most Aces in Best-of-5 Match: 52, John Isner (l. to Johnson, US Open R1)
Longest Winning Streak: 26, Novak Djokovic
Youngest Final: Stefanos Tsitsipas (21) def. Felix Auger-Aliassime (19) in Marseille
Oldest Final: Rafael Nadal (34) def. Novak Djokovic (33) at Roland Garros
Read All Best Of 2020 Stories
– Research contributed by Greg Sharko