When the lights go out at the All England Club and fans stream out of the gates in awe of a day’s play on the pristine lawns, it is likely that Rafael Nadal will be the subject of some of their discussions.

With two titles (2008, 2010) and three runner-up appearances (2006-07, 2011), the Spaniard has left an indelible mark on the grass of Wimbledon, characterised by his hunger for victory and a huge capacity to adapt. It’s clear that his grass-court magic isn’t just natural instinct, but rather the fruit of a life of hard work.

Few are more familiar with the work of the Mallorcan than Francis Roig, a permanent member of his coaching staff since 2005. The Mallorcan spoke to ATPTour.com about Nadal adapting his game to grass, which has been an essential component in establishing his legacy.

“The first time I saw Rafa play on grass was around 2002 or 2003,” Roig recalled. “At the time, I was still coaching Feliciano Lopez and I hadn’t started working with Nadal. Rafa came to play in the juniors. He didn’t have anyone to rally with, so I played with him that day.”

The stories of Wimbledon that had been shared by his Uncle Toni were etched into Nadal’s mind and his determination to master the surface was evident in every shot. Inside the walls of the All England Club, steeped in history, was a wide-eyed young man who would do anything to progress.

“From the first moment, I could see that he was very capable of adapting to grass,” Roig said. “A few years had to go by before he would earn confidence and the knack for playing on it. But Rafa has a quality, among many, that I think is incredible and makes him different to the rest. He knows how to overcome adversity like no other.

“Little by little, he started to learn how to play on grass. I think that this is one of the things that sets Rafa apart, that he always finds solutions. These situations are where he has demonstrated that. People who thought he wouldn’t be able to play well on grass have seen that he did.”

As time has gone by, the Spaniard has become a revered player in London. With a 53-12 record at Wimbledon, Nadal has enjoyed a long history of success at the season’s third Grand Slam. From his first final just a few weeks after turning 20, to his assault on the title last year at age 34, he has consistently found a way to contend for the trophy.

“There was a turning point on grass for Rafa. At first, he played with huge intensity that intimidated his opponents. He played at a very fast rhythm and was able to move much better than now, as he was much younger,” Roig said. “Later, he showed such a huge evolution in his game that, to me, he practically played better on grass than on hard courts. I think he produces better tennis. He likes playing on grass when he has time to adapt, although it’s true that the grass and current balls are maybe slower than before.”

Nadal’s most recent showings at Wimbledon will make him one of the favourites to win at next year’s event. Few have doubted his ability to contend for another trophy in London and he’s provided plenty of evidence that he has more outstanding grass-court tennis to give.

“He has played stunning tennis in the past three editions. In 2017, he lost in the fourth round to Gilles Muller in a match that could have gone either way. He was playing well enough to do something big that year at Wimbledon. He came close in the past two years,” Roig reflected. “You have to expect anything from Rafa. It wasn’t his favourite surface, but he adapted by searching for solutions and he is great at that. He competes every day. You can never write him off in a match or for things in his career that seem difficult. You always have to expect that he’s capable of the best.”

History can attest to that. Nadal reached the Wimbledon final on five consecutive occasions between 2006-2011 (he withdrew from the 2009 event due to knee tendonitis), an achievement that only three other men (Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Roger Federer) have accomplished in the Open Era.

“Playing five consecutive finals at Wimbledon is quite a feat,” Roig said. “It’s true that a few years have gone by where he didn’t play well and injuries didn’t help him. In addition, he has always had the handicap of arriving on the grass somewhat depleted after Roland Garros. It takes a very big toll and you have to take that into account.

“But it’s not just his five finals. It’s also the semi-finals he has recently played. I would rate him very highly among Wimbledon players. It goes without saying that you’d have to place him among the best players in history on any surface.”

David Nalbandian speaks pensively and intensely. Although it’s been 18 years since he reached the Wimbledon final in his first main draw appearance at the event, the Cordoba native knows it was a turning point for him. When the Argentine arrived at the All England Club, he had never played a tour-level match on grass. Despite being inside the Top 40 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, he was still finding his feet.

“I remember that we arrived there without any great expectations. [It was] my first ATP Tour tournament on grass. We had trained for a week in Argentina, in Hurlingham, and it wasn’t going well,” the former World No. 3 told ATPTour.com.

But the Argentine had some prior grass-court success to lean on. He won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles titles three years earlier with Guillermo Coria and was a semi-finalist in the boys’ singles event before losing via walkover after he no-showed due to confusion over the start time of his match.

Just over two weeks after his difficult training sessions in Hurlingham, Nalbandian’s negative feelings were long removed after accomplishing a first among Argentine men. He played in the singles final, where he would lose to Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 56 minutes.

“When I got there, I wasn’t feeling great. I was still returning badly… But as the matches went by, I gradually began to feel more comfortable,” Nalbandian recalled. “I really was surprised with how easily I started to feel better and better.”

He moved past Spaniard David Sanchez and Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in his first two rounds. Nalbandian admitted that he was “lucky to play against opponents who played from the baseline, so I was able to have rallies and find my rhythm.”

Nalbandian’s next match would have been against seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, but the American surprisingly lost to Swiss lucky loser George Bastl. Emboldened by his kinder draw. he swept past Bastl and shook off the tricky Australian Wayne Arthurs to become the first Argentine Wimbledon quarter-finalist since Guillermo Vilas (1975-1976).

After seeing off Ecuadorian Nicolas Lapentti and Belgian Xavier Malisse, Nalbandian shockingly found himself in the final.

“After the first week, I started to feel that I could win all the matches, even the most difficult ones,” Nalbandian said. “It was a change in mindset. It didn’t matter what their ranking was. I felt that I could be a favourite for the rest of the tournament.

“My route to the final was unusual. I never had to play on Centre Court. It rained a lot the second week and there were rescheduled matches. I was always on the outer courts and I only played on Court 1 in the semi-final.”

Nalbandian made his Centre Court debut in the final against Hewitt. The atmosphere and the occasion were too much for the Argentine and he never fully relaxed against his in-form opponent.

“It was quite a thing to reach the final without having set foot on Centre Court. I think I was the only one they let warm up there before the match just to see how it was,” Nalbandian said. “Wimbledon’s Centre Court is pure history. It’s incredible for any tennis player. I think not having been on it or played a match there didn’t help me in terms of nerves and facing the situation at such an early age. Hewitt was World No. 1 and an experienced grass player, or at least much more used to it.”

Despite the defeat, Nalbandian burst into the highest echelon of the sport and sent a warning message to the Tour that his journey was just beginning. He would go on to win 11 ATP Tour titles and reach his career-high ranking of No. 3 in 2006.

“It was a change in quality in my game, my ranking, my responsibility as a player and, above all, my confidence. It was knowing that I was ready to square up against the biggest players, even though I was young,” Nalbandian said. “My runner-up trophy is in a room where I have all the other trophies. I also kept the clothes and the racquet. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, so I need to rummage through and see where they are!”

Editor’s Note: But for the COVID-19 pandemic, Wimbledon would now be underway. During the next two weeks ATPTour.com will look back on memorable matches and happenings at the grass-court Grand Slam. This story was originally published on 10 July 2019.

Roger Federer in 2019 became the first singles player in Grand Slam championship history to record 100 match wins at a single major. The Swiss superstar, a winner of a record eight titles at The Championships, hit the milestone after he beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori on Centre Court in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. He is now 101-13 lifetime at the grass-court major.

ATPTour.com takes a looks at 10 of his memorable match wins at Wimbledon.

Win No. 1: 2001 first round, d. Christophe Rochus (BEL) 62 63 62
Three years on from winning the junior singles and doubles titles at the All England Club, Federer finally broke his two-match losing streak in first-round matches at Wimbledon, beating the older of the two Rochus brothers, Christophe, in 66 minutes. Losing just 14 service points, World No. 15 Federer hit 18 aces. He’d previously fallen to Jiri Novak in 1999 and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 2000.

Win No. 4: 2001 fourth round, d. Pete Sampras (USA) 76(7) 57 64 67(2) 75
Federer’s life changed on 3 July 2001 at 6:20pm, when, after almost eight years of dominance on the manicured lawns, seven-time champion Sampras left Centre Court, denied the 100th grass-court match win of his illustrious career. “I think Roger is something extra-special,” said Sampras, afterwards. Federer broke Sampras’ 29-match winning streak at Wimbledon, dating back to the 1996 quarter-final loss to Richard Krajicek, admitting, “A lot of friends had told me, ‘This year I think you can beat him.’ I’d played a great year [and]… I knew I had a chance. But it was not like 100 per cent. I mean, he’s the man on grass.” Federer, playing his ninth major championship, dropped to his knees in celebration, but would lose in four sets to Tim Henman in the quarter-finals, two days later.

Win No. 11: 2003 final, d. Mark Philippoussis (AUS) 76(5) 62 76(3)
Federer held his nerve until breaking down in tears as he captured his first major championship crown with a 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3) victory over Philippoussis, who had been told two years earlier he may never play again when a serious knee injury left him in a wheelchair. “I proved it to everybody and it was a big relief because there was pressure from all sides, especially from myself, to do better in Slams,” said Federer, who had needed treatment for a back injury against Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round. “There is no guarantee of anything, but I knew I had the game and I have always believed in myself. I kept my level up here in the semi-finals [against Andy Roddick] and the final and to lift the trophy is an absolute dream.”

Win No. 39: 2007 final, d. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 76(7) 46 76(3) 26 62
The World No. 1 emulated Bjorn Borg by winning his fifth straight Wimbledon title, coming through a huge scare against Nadal in their second consecutive final at the All England Club, over three hours and 45 minutes. Nadal broke twice to force a decider, when Federer saved four break points before striking a forehand winner down the line for a 4-2 lead en route to victory. With Borg watching from the Royal Box, Federer said, “Each one is special but to play a champion like Rafa, it means a lot and equalling Bjorn’s record as well. He’s a fantastic player and he’s going to be around so much longer so I’m happy with every one I get before he takes them all! It was such a close match. I told him at the net that he deserved it as well. I’m the lucky one today.”

Win No. 50: 2009 quarter-finals, d. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 63 76(5) 76(3)
Karlovic had held serve 80 times over four matches, but Federer broke the giant Croatian in his second service game and committed only seven unforced errors in one hour and 43 minutes. “I think especially on grass, all my strength becomes even better,” said Federer, after his 50th victory at The Championships that propelled him to his 21st straight Grand Slam championship semi-final. “I become so much more dangerous.”

Win No. 52: 2009 final, d. Andy Roddick (USA) 57 76(6) 76(5) 36 16-14
Federer bounced back from his 2008 final loss to Nadal by capturing a record-breaking 15th major championship crown 12 months on, in a tense and gruelling 16-14 fifth set victory over Andy Roddick, the player he also beat in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals. Roddick had secured the only two breaks of serve in the first four sets and the decider went with serve until the 30th game when the American, who had not converted two break point chances at 8-8, began to tire. Sampras flew in from Los Angeles to witness Federer break his major title haul. The Swiss reclaimed No. 1 in the ATP Rankings with his sixth Wimbledon crown over four hours and 15 minutes.

Win No. 53: 2010 first round, d. Alejandro Falla (COL) 57 46 64 76(1) 60
Federer avoided one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, over three hours and 18 minutes on Centre Court, recovering from 4-5 down in the fourth set, when World No. 60 Falla had served for a place in the second round. “I definitely got very lucky out there,” said Federer, who had beaten Falla 6-1, 6-2 in Halle, two weeks earlier. “I have lost many matches this year which I should have won, this is one I should have lost but I came through. But that is sometimes how grass court tennis works. It came as a bit of a shock and it’s not something I was that prepared for, but you have to draw from experience and physical strength. I live to fight another day.” Falla would later admit her got nervous when serving for the match in the fourth set. “I was thinking that I have a big opportunity to beat Federer here,” the Colombian said. “I just doubted a little bit at that moment for the first two points, and then he played good points.”

Win No. 64: 2012 third round, d. Julien Benneteau (FRA) 46 67(3) 62 76(6) 61
Federer had dropped only nine games in his first two matches, but struggled against the power of Benneteau in the first two sets and was contemplating his first third-round exit at a Grand Slam championship since 2004 Roland Garros. Federer regrouped under the Centre Court roof to force a decider, which saw No. 29 seed Benneteau receive treatment for an injury after the first game. “I did start to play better and better as the match went on, that’s kind of what I expected of myself once a set down,” said Federer, who came through the 26-minute fifth set. “That I guess comes with experience, but experience alone is not going to win you the match. I had to push deep and extremely hard, and I’m very happy with the way things sort of happened at the end.”

Win No. 93: 2017 final, d. Marin Cilic (CRO) 63 61 64
Federer became the first man to capture the Wimbledon title eight times with victory over Cilic, who struggled with a blister on his left foot and broke down in tears in the second set. In sealing his first crown at the All England Club for five years, Federer extended his record to 19 Grand Slam trophies and at 35 years of age became the oldest man in the Open Era to lift the Wimbledon trophy. Watched by his wife, Mirka, and their four children, Federer said, “I think the younger twins think this is a nice view and a nice playground – hopefully one day they’ll understand. They come for the finals. It’s a wonderful moment for the family and my team. This one is for us. Thank you to Wimbledon, thank you Switzerland.”

Win No. 100: 2019 quarter-finals, d. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 46 61 64 64
Closing in on his 38th birthday, evergreen Federer move through to his 13th Wimbledon semi-final, where he’ll play his long-time rival Nadal, in his 21st straight visit to the major in south-west London. Nishikori broke Federer in the very first game, and came close to a 4-1 advantage, before the Swiss started his comeback in the second set en route to his 100th match win at Wimbledon. Federer is now the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam championship semi-final since Jimmy Connors, aged 39 years and six days, at the 1991 US Open.

The 2009 Wimbledon final was a moment everyone wanted to witness. Roger Federer and Pete Sampras were tied for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era with 14, and Sampras flew to London for the occasion. The American wanted to be in the Centre Court stands to watch the Swiss star break his mark.

“Today with Pete it was a bit special. When he walked in and I saw him for the first time, I did get more nervous,” Federer said. “I said hello to him, too, which is unusual. But I thought, ‘I don’t want to be rude.’”

One year earlier, Federer played what is still considered by many the greatest match ever against Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon final. But this time, it wasn’t Nadal standing across the net, it was former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, against whom Federer owned an 18-2 ATP Head2Head series lead.

The first time the pair met in a Grand Slam final was at 2004 Wimbledon, when Federer rallied from a set down to win his second title at The Championships.

“I threw the kitchen sink at him but he went to the bathroom and got his tub,” Roddick said at the time.

In the 2009 final, with the American still pursuing his first Wimbledon trophy, Roddick threw an Olympic-sized swimming pool at Federer. For four hours and 16 minutes, the 2003 US Open champion played arguably the best tennis of his career. Somehow, it still wasn’t enough.

Federer beat Roddick 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14 behind a career-high 50 aces to earn his 15th Grand Slam crown and deny the American a second major trophy.

Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Rod Laver” />

“It’s frustrating at times because I couldn’t break Andy ‘til the very, very end,” Federer said. “The satisfaction is maybe bigger this time around to come through, because I couldn’t control the match at all.”

From 2006-08, Federer played Nadal in the Wimbledon final. Those matches were full of baseline rallies, while his battle against Roddick was mostly a serving duel. Federer did not break Roddick’s serve until the final game of the match.

But credit goes to the sixth seed for making it that far. Roddick led the second-set tie-break 6/2, giving himself four consecutive set points — including two on his rocket serve — to take a two-set lead. At 6/5, Roddick hit a forehand approach shot, and Federer’s ensuing passing shot seemingly froze in the air. Would it fly long or drop on the baseline? Roddick appeared he would let it go, before reaching for the backhand volley at the last second, missing well wide of the doubles alley.

“I thought the second set was obviously key to what came after. Maybe being down two sets to love, the way Andy was serving, would have always been a very difficult situation to be in,” Federer said. “Even then down two sets to love it’s still possible, but it definitely increased my chances of winning.”

Match Stats

Roddick could have fallen apart after the massive momentum shift. But instead, he dug into the SW19 grass and gave Federer everything he had in his third Wimbledon final.

“We’re human. We’re not Cyborgs,” Roddick said. “At that point, like everything else, there’s two options: you lay down or you keep going. The second option sounded better to me.”

Roddick entered the match with a 26-4 record in tie-breaks that season, but Federer took two in a row from him to move to within one set of the title. Roddick, who defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter-finals and Andy Murray in the semi-finals, kept fighting.

At 8-8 in the final set, Roddick crushed a backhand winner down the line on the run to earn two break points, but Federer quickly served his way out of a jam.

With Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Boris Becker among the legends looking on, the men traded holds until 14-15. Roddick mis-hit a forehand, and Federer leapt into the air to celebrate his sixth Wimbledon title in seven years.

“It’s staggering that I’ve been able to play so well for so many years now and stay injury-free. Happy what I’m doing,” Federer said. “It’s crazy that I’ve been able to win so many in such a short period of time, I think.”

Federer has since won two more trophies at The Championships, and improved his Grand Slam total to 20. Nadal (19) and Djokovic (17) have also passed Sampras on the Open Era list.

Roddick never got another chance to win a second major trophy. Just more than a year later, the former World No. 1 retired after the 2010 US Open.

After losses to Roger Federer in the 2006 and 2007 championship matches at SW19, Rafael Nadal entered his third straight Wimbledon final against the Swiss in the form of his life in 2008.

In the past month, the Spaniard had dropped just four games against Federer to win his fourth consecutive trophy at Roland Garros before clinching his maiden grass-court title at the Fever-Tree Championships. By the time he walked onto Centre Court against the five-time defending champion, Nadal had won 34 of his past 35 matches, including 23 straight victories.

But Federer was still the man to beat on grass. The 26-year-old was riding an all-time record 65-match winning streak on grass, which included 40 consecutive wins at the All England Club. Federer was aiming to become the first player in the Open Era to win six consecutive Gentlemen’s Singles titles, after tying Bjorn Borg’s streak of five straight titles between 1976 and 1980 with a five-set win against Nadal in the 2007 final.

After rain had delayed the start of the match, it was Nadal who made the brighter start on final Sunday. The Mallorcan claimed the only break of the first set and recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to lead by two sets.

Less than 10 minutes after Federer escaped from 3-3, 0/40, in the third set, rain forced the players to leave the court for 80 minutes. When the final resumed, Federer raised his level to extend the match to a fourth set.

As was the case in the third set, neither player was able to claim a break of serve in the fourth set. In one of the greatest tie-breaks in Wimbledon history, Federer rallied from 2/5 down and saved two championship points to force a decider. Memorably, at 7/7, Nadal ripped a forehand passing shot winner to earn his second championship point, only for Federer to save it with a backhand passing shot down the line before levelling the match.

Roger Federer entered the 2008 Wimbledon final on an all-time record 65-match winning streak on grass.” />

After a half-hour rain delay at 2-2 in the decider, Federer and Nadal could not be separated. The crucial break came at 7-7, as Nadal claimed three of the opening four points on Federer’s serve and extracted back-to-back forehand errors from his opponent to serve for the match.

Federer bravely saved a third championship point in the following game, before Nadal clinched the title with his fourth opportunity. As Federer struck a forehand approach into the net, the Spaniard collapsed to the ground in near darkness, after four hours and 48 minutes of play, at 9:15 p.m. local time.

“It’s impossible to explain what I felt in that moment but I’m very, very happy,” said Nadal. “It is a dream to play on this court, my favourite tournament, but to win I never imagined.”

After greeting his rival at the net, Nadal climbed into the players’ box to celebrate with his family and friends, before marching across a commentary box roof to greet Crown Prince Felipe, the then-heir to the Spanish throne, and his wife, Princess Letizia in the Royal Box.

With the victory, Nadal became the first man since Borg in 1980 to capture the Roland Garros and Wimbledon trophies in the same year. The 22-year-old also closed the gap on World No. 1 Federer in the FedEx ATP Rankings to just 545 points. Nadal eventually passed Federer to become World No. 1 for the first time in his career on 18 August 2008.

“[It is] probably my hardest loss, by far… I’m happy we lived up to the expectations. I’m happy the way I fought. That’s all I could really do,” said Federer.

Federer was attempting to become the first man since Henri Cochet in 1927 to recover from two sets down in a Wimbledon final. The Swiss made a successful return to the All England Club in 2009, beating Andy Roddick 16-14 in another extended fifth set to move clear of Pete Sampras with a record 15th Grand Slam crown.

Tim Henman still remembers his first visit to Wimbledon when he was six. That moment changed the course of the Brit’s life.

“That was when I made my one and only career decision, that I wanted to play tennis,” Henman said on this week’s Tennis United. “Fifteen years later I was playing the first round [at the All England Club in ’96]. There was some sort of debate about changing [Henman Hill’s] name, but I’ve quashed that.”

Henman’s favourite memory at Wimbledon is of the third round in 1997 when he played Paul Haarhuis. He won the match 14-12 in the fifth set.

“When we came on court, Centre Court was absolutely packed and every shot I hit in the warm-up the crowd cheered and every shot he missed the crowd booed!” Henman recalled. “That was the best atmosphere I ever played in.”

The Brit was joined on Tennis United by former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, who triumphed at The Championships in 1999. The American remembered the experience of playing at SW19 while Henman was in the draw.

“Playing in that whole era when Tim played at Wimbledon was crazy. Everything for those couple weeks when Tim was in, it was all about Tim. I honestly don’t know how he survived it. You picked up a paper and everything was about Tim,” Davenport said. “I suffered through a few of Tim’s losses there, too. I wanted him to win.”

Swedish legends Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander also joined the show to discuss Wimbledon, including Edberg’s first title in 1988.

“Winning Wimbledon the first time is always going to stand out,” Edberg said. “It’s a fantastic feeling, being on Centre Court and lifting the trophy.”

The two best returners on the planet in 2019 and the first two months of 2020 were Rafael Nadal and Diego Schwartzman.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of their prowess winning points that begin by absorbing and redirecting the power of a serve identifies two key areas that help elevate them above all others:
• Technique – developing their return of serve skill set to the highest possible level.
• Location – growing up in a culture in Spain and Argentina that perennially produces the best returners in our sport.

Nadal and Schwartzman were the only two players to win north of 42 per cent of their return points during the 14-month period, which was significantly higher than the ATP Tour average of 36 per cent.

Return Points Won (Jan 2019 – Feb 2020)
1. Nadal = 42.39% (2499/5895)
2. Schwartzman = 42.07% (2689/6391)

Both Nadal and Schwartzman like to stand well behind the baseline to return, providing the opportunity for the serve to slow down marginally more, which helps them avoid being rushed by the raw power of the biggest shot in our sport.

Did Nadal and Schwartzman have an advantage developing their return of serve by growing up in Spain and Argentina? They absolutely did, as both countries are a perennial hotbed producing the best returners in our game.

Career Return Metrics (1991-2020)
Spain and Argentina account for seven of the leading 10 players in the Career Return Points Won category and 44 per cent of the Top 50. The data set includes players that competed in at least 100 ATP Tour and Grand Slam matches from 1991-2020, excluding Davis Cup ties.

The top four spots are a trade-off between the two countries with Argentina’s Guillermo Coria leading the way, followed by Spain’s Nadal, then Argentina’s Franco Davin, and Spain’s Alberto Berasategui. The three other players ranked in the leading 10 spots from the two countries are seventh-ranked David Ferrer (ESP), eighth-ranked Francisco Roig (ESP), and ninth-ranked Guillermo Perez-Roldan (ARG).

Coria led all players with a career-leading 43.7 per cent (11,139/25,492) of return points won against first and second serves. His metrics at Roland Garros, where he went 17-7, were some of his career best, winning a dominant 48.06 per cent (1217/2530) of return points. Coria reached the final of Roland Garros in 2004, winning very close to half of all return points played for the tournament at 49.85 per cent (333/668).

The 10 Argentine players ranked in the leading 50 players with return points won are listed below.

Argentines – Leading 50 Players Return Points Won

Nadal was the elite Spaniard, and it is in Monte Carlo where he has posted the best return metrics of his illustrious career. He has won a staggering 49.93 per cent (2369/4745) of return points in the principality. At Roland Garros, Nadal has also been well above his career average, winning an impressive 47.82 per cent (4245/8877) of return points.

The 12 Spaniards in the leading 50 players with return points won are in the table below.

Spaniards – Leading 50 Players Return Points Won

The fifth-placed player, Michael Chang, was one of just three Americans in the leading 50 players, along with Andre Agassi (15th) and Aaron Krickstein (50th). Chang’s best tournaments with return points won (min. 1000 return points) were on hard courts at Atlanta (46.13%), Washington, D.C. (44.69%), and Los Angeles (44.49%). The third-placed country overall was Sweden, with four players placed in the leading 50 returners. They were:
•No. 21 Magnus Gustafsson = 41.44%
•No. 25 Stefan Edberg = 41.28%
•No. 40 Christian Bergstrom = 40.48%
•No. 45 Jonas Svensson = 40.32%

When Spaniards compete against Argentines, you know a crucial sub-plot is to be the best returner on the court.

Wimbledon pledged on Friday £10 million to the men and women who would have competed at The Championships in 2020 had the COVID-19 pandemic not forced the cancellation of the event. The grass-court Grand Slam is allocating funds to 620 players from all disciplines whose world ranking would have enabled them to gain entry into the tournament.

The 256 players who would have competed in gentlemen’s and ladies’ singles draws will each receive £25,000; 224 players who would have competed in the genlemen’s and ladies’ qualifying events will each receive £12,500; 120 players who would have competed in Main Draw Doubles will each receive £6,250.

In addition, Wimbledon announced that the grass-court seeding formula it has used for the gentlemen’s singles draw since 2002 will be discontinued beginning in 2021. The seeding will be based solely on the FedEx ATP Rankings.

The All England Club has focussed Wimbledon’s efforts on supporting those most affected by the pandemic at a local, national and international level. These efforts have included the Wimbledon Foundation’s £1.2 million COVID-19 fund to support charities tackling the crisis response and recovery, the donations of strawberries, towels and balls intended for The Championships 2020, the distribution of daily hot meals to those in need in the local community.

Wimbledon has also contributed to the Player Relief Programme and wheelchair tennis fund established by the governing bodies of world tennis, as well as an auction in support of members of the ATP Coach programme most in need due to the pandemic. Andy Murray will hit with the winning bidder and a guest at The Championships in 2021, and they will follow that session with a private lunch in the All England Club’s members’ enclosure. The winning bidder will also receive two tickets to the gentlemen’s singles final.

The chief executive of the All England Club, Richard Lewis , said: “Immediately following the cancellation of The Championships, we turned our attention to how we could assist those who help make Wimbledon happen. We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying for these groups, including the players, many of whom have faced financial difficulty during this period and who would have quite rightly anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking. We are pleased that our insurance policy has allowed us to recognise the impact of the cancellation on the players and that we are now in a position to offer this payment as a reward for the hard work they have invested in building their ranking to a point where they would have gained direct entry into The Championships 2020.”

The Wimbledon battles between Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter were a contrast in playing styles that perfectly suited grass-court tennis. Rafter’s relentless serve-and-volleying and Agassi’s blistering returns produced high-octane rallies that frequently left the Centre Court crowd gasping in their seats.

Rafter and Agassi faced off in three consecutive Wimbledon semi-finals from 1999-2001, with the Aussie prevailing in two of them. ATPTour.com looks at their epic clashes at the All England Club.

2000

Rafter’s had slipped to No. 21 in the FedEx ATP Rankings after undergoing shoulder surgery the previous October, but he once again found his top form in time for Wimbledon. Leaping around the net to block Agassi’s powerful returns with acrobatic volley winners, the 27-year-old withstood Agassi’s baseline power to prevail 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

“Today was a match that I couldn’t have played any better under the circumstances, on a big court against one of the best players ever,” Rafter said. ”I think it was probably very satisfying to have actually done it on these grounds.”

Although Agassi couldn’t have performed any better off the ground, his serve let him down in crucial moments. He was broken to love at 3-4 in the third set and managed to get the break back in the next game, but hit a pair of costly double faults at 5-6 to aid Rafter in taking a commanding lead.

Another double fault at 2-3 in the final set gifted Rafter a break point that he converted with a timely trip to the net. The slight advantage was all he needed. Landing 80 per cent of his first serves in the decider, Rafter held the momentum to become the first Australian to reach a Wimbledon singles final since Pat Cash (1987).

”I wasn’t satisfied with the semi-finals. I got to the semis last year and wanted to go one step further now,” Rafter said. “You never count your chances as great when you’re playing against Andre, but I played very well today.”

Rafter fell to Pete Sampras in the championship match, enabling the American to surpass Roy Emerson as the overall leader for most Grand Slam singles titles with his 13th crown. It was a loss which ate at Rafter until the following year at Wimbledon.

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2001

Agassi and Rafter’s 2001 semi-final drew plenty of buzz after their thrilling clash the previous year and the high-quality match lived up to expectations. The American served for the match and came within two points of victory, but Rafter, who trailed throughout most of the final set, clawed back to score a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6 win.

“When it’s best-of-five, I know there’s time to work things out and to try different things,” Rafter said. “I was still aggressive, like last year. I had to be. I had to take my chances and give myself opportunities, hopefully get the right bounce of the ball. And it worked the same way.”

Rafter saved four break points at 0-2 in the deciding set, then erased another in his next service game. Agassi continued to hold serve comfortably until he had a chance to wrap up the match. Serving at 5-4, 30/30, a wild baseline error set up break point for Rafter and the Aussie made good on it with a volley winner.

Drama outside of the rallies also played a critical role. Agassi shouted at himself after losing a deuce point at 6-6 and a lineswoman raced to the umpire to report his language, causing the American to receive a code violation. He later admitted that the incident rattled him as a string of wild unforced errors caused him to fall behind 0/40 in the next game. Rafter cracked a backhand passing shot winner on his third match point and raised his arms in delight at reaching another Wimbledon final.

“The closer you get to winning, the harder it is to accept. He won the fifth set decisively last year. This year, I had a lot of chances. It’s more disappointing,” Agassi said. “You’ve got to just shake it off, try to move forward. What else can you do?”

Rafter would come within two points of the title, but fell to Goran Ivanisevic in a match that is still considered to be one of the best finals in tournament history.

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1999

The first Wimbledon semi-final between Agassi and Rafter provided little of the theatrics that their future encounters would have. Agassi never gave the match a chance to heat up as he produced a flawless performance on Centre Court, cracking 48 winners to only 10 errors in his 7-5, 7-6(5), 6-2 win.

Rafter had a slight opening at 4/2 in the second-set tie-break, but Agassi responded by hitting four winners, including a backhand return on set point, to grab a two-sets lead. The 29-year-old poured it on in the final set and didn’t hit a single unforced error, breaking Rafter twice to reach his first Wimbledon final in seven years.

Although he suffered a convincing loss to Pete Sampras in the championship match, Agassi’s run to the final enabled him to unseat Sampras as World No. 1 on the following Monday.

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In July 1980, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe met at Wimbledon for the first time. Any and all who were lucky enough to watch the encounter live will swear the match was and continues to be the greatest that tennis has ever seen. Being 27, I was one with the misfortune of never having seen it. I thought it time that changed.

My own fandom has involved as much a fascination with tennis history as it has with what is happening in the present. But it was not until I sat down on a drizzly June afternoon at my flat in London to watch in its entirety the 1980 Wimbledon final – which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month – that I realised in reality I knew little, if anything, of substance about it.

Of course I was aware of the match and of Borg’s eventual victory, but in reality for people of my age it has been reduced to something of a reference point in debates about whether Nadal and Federer’s titanic Wimbledon final in 2008 topped it.

For me, McEnroe was more familiar as one of tennis’s finest talking heads, a voice of authority to guide me through the game’s nuances and subtleties, while Borg was someone I associated with looking effortlessly cool in Centre Court’s Royal Box. I was aware of their exploits, of their famous matches and even of their diametrically opposed styles on court, but awareness was all it amounted to.

I figured that I knew what I needed to know about them and the 1980 final but 18 points into their legendary 22 minute fourth-set tiebreak, won 18-16 by McEnroe to draw himself level with Borg at two sets apiece, I realised my previous appreciation for the match had come up woefully short.

What became apparent at that most dramatic of moments was a sudden realisation that at no point in the previous two hours and 52 minutes had I even considered the action anything other than utterly compelling, fiercely competitive and, while undeniably less brutish than the modern power game, exquisitely skillful.

A reductive notion often levelled at sports from a bygone era is that they are boring, slow and simply not as exciting as the offerings of the present day. As a millennial myself, I humbly present this Borg-McEnroe final as an example proving this to be a falsehood. If you gave this one a five-star review, you’d be doing it a serious disservice.

I was having reactions akin to those that come with the most dramatic live sport. I experienced sweating palms, an elevated heart rate and audible cries of amazement as I sat alone in my house on what was ironically one of this summer’s wettest days so far.

Throughout, I found myself drawn to both. McEnroe, his heart as clearly visible on his sleeve as the headband penning in his mane of curly locks, married looks of anguish after a backhand slice into the net with shrieks of joy after a cross-court winner.

In contrast Borg, who at the time already boasted four Wimbledon titles to supplement his astonishing five Roland Garros crowns, seemed utterly unfazed, outwardly at least, by any occurrence. Not a bead of sweat apparent on his unquestionably stylish Fila get-up as he metronomically met every McEnroe challenge with one of his own.

What they both possessed was an easy grace of play almost absent from the modern men’s game, where a premium on heavy hitting often trumps all else. Lithe and fleet of foot, McEnroe and Borg hailed from another era of tennis which, at Wimbledon at least, involved endless attacking forays to net and shots demanding delicacy over destruction.

Perhaps the most prominent parallel to be drawn from that famous afternoon to the modern day is the undeniably unique atmosphere produced by Centre Court. Very few sports venues can lay claim to matching it during moments of pure sporting theatre, silence followed by eruptions of noise. There really is nowhere quite like it.

One sad reality of passing time is its tendency to sentence great moments of sporting history to nostalgia. In the moments before, during and after seismic clashes, it is easy to think that the significance of what has occurred will continue to be felt for lifetimes, weaving itself into the fabric of the sporting consciousness.

The 1980 Wimbledon final will forever be the standard of excellence in tennis and remain entrenched as one of the finest athletic achievements of all time. And so, on its 40th birthday, put down your strawberries and cream, raise your Pimms and pay homage to greatness.