To an outsider, it seems like an unfortunate ending to an outstanding career. Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny played his final match on Thursday at the St. Petersburg Open, losing to Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3. The 36-year-old Youzhny, No. 110 in the ATP Rankings, will retire stuck on 499 wins, two sets away from becoming only the second Russian to earn 500 victories (Kafelnikov 609).

Youzhny, however, does not seem perturbed. “It’s just statistics,” he said. “I can think about a lot of things. I never made the final of a Grand Slam. I never made the semi-finals of an [ATP World Tour Masters] 1000 event. Many, many things I didn’t do in tennis.”

‘The Colonel’ should not despair; he has plenty of company. Other players, including former World No. 1s Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray, have come tantalizingly close to landmark achievements only to fall just short. ATPWorldTour.com remembers some memorable close calls:

2005 Nitto ATP Finals F, David Nalbandian d. Roger Federer 6-7(4), 6-7(11), 6-2, 6-1, 7-6(3)
Federer led Nalbandian two sets to zero in the final of the season finale, but the Argentine came back and won the fifth-set tie-break. Had Federer held on, he would have tied John McEnroe for the best single-season record in the Open Era. Federer finished 81-4; McEnroe went 82-3 in 1984.

1984 Roland Garros F, Ivan Lendl d. John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
Of course, McEnroe, like all champions, had his near misses as well. During his record-breaking year, McEnroe let slip a two sets to zero lead in the Roland Garros final. He finished his career without winning the clay-court major.

2003 Coupe Rogers SF, Andy Roddick d. Roger Federer 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3)
No one will feel sorry for Federer having spent only 310 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. But the Swiss could have arrived at the top spot a good six months sooner than when he first did, in February 2004. If Federer had beaten Roddick during the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Montreal, he would have reached No. 1 in August 2003.

Roddick, however, was the man to beat during that North American hard-court swing, as he showed by winning the 2003 US Open. Federer, though, got Roddick back a few times, 17 to be exact. At the time, Federer led their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 4-1. Federer now leads their series 21-3.

2006 Internazional BNL d’Italia F, Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer, 6-7(0), 7-6(5), 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5)
In one of the best matches of their historic rivalry, Federer held two championship points but Nadal ultimately prevailed. The Internazional BNL d’Italia in Rome and the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, both Masters 1000 tournaments, remain the only “Big Titles” Federer has never won. He is 0-4 in Monte-Carlo finals and 0-4 in Rome title matches.

Read More: Roger & Rafa: The Rivalry

2009 Wimbledon F, Roger Federer d. Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14
Ten times Roddick held to stay in the final against Federer, but even that monumental feat wasn’t enough to give the American his maiden Wimbledon title. The former No. 1 fell in his third and final Wimbledon title match, and wouldn’t reach another Grand Slam final before retiring after the 2012 US Open.

2013 US Open Doubles SF, Leander Paes/Radek Stepanek d. Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
The Bryans were two matches away from winning the calendar year Grand Slam. But Paes/Stepanek denied the American greats a chance at history. The Bryans had a more-recent near-miss as well, when Bob Bryan fell hurt during the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open final and the twins had to retire against Nikola Mektic/Alexander Peya. Had the twins won the Spanish Masters 1000 title, they would have returned to co-No. 1s. But Bob Bryan hasn’t played a match since then, and he underwent hip surgery last month.

2013 Kuala Lumpur F, Joao Sousa d. Julien Benneteau 2-6, 7-5, 6-4
Julien Benneteau must know, a little bit at least, how Youzhny is feeling. The affable Frenchman, who played his last ATP World Tour match at the Winston-Salem Open last month, finished 0-10 in ATP World Tour finals. During his ninth final, in Kuala Lumpur, Benneteau held a championship point before falling to Sousa.

2004 Roland Garros F, Gaston Gaudio d. Guillermo Coria 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6
Coria was a heavy favourite in the all-Argentine final, but he lost and never came that close to a Grand Slam title again.

Other Notable Near Misses

• Nadal has played at the Nitto ATP Finals eight times and reached two finals (2010, 2013), but he’s never won the prestigious season finale. The Spanish great is also 0-5 in Miami finals. Nadal led Federer during the 2005 Miami Open presented by Itau final by two sets and 4-1 in the third only to lose in five sets.

• Scot Andy Murray has played in five Australian Open finals but has never won the season’s first Grand Slam title nor has he pushed a Melbourne final to five sets.

• Goran Ivanisevic, 2001 Wimbledon champion, ended his career with 599 wins.

Fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili continued the best season of his career on Thursday at the Moselle Open in Metz. The 26-year-old Georgian reached the quarter-finals by beating #NextGenATP Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 6-3.

Basilashvili become the first Georgian to win an ATP World Tour title in July in Hamburg. Earlier this month, he also become the first Georgian to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam at the US Open. He will next meet top seed Kei Nishikori.

Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis earned one of the biggest wins of his season, upsetting second seed and World No. 15 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-3. Berankis will next face Moldova’s Radu Albot, who beat Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 6-2.

Home favourite Gilles Simon erased two break points at 5-5, 15/40 in the third set against Serbian Filip Krajinovic and prevailed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. The two-time champion (2010, 2013) Simon will play countryman Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals.

In other action, Germany’s Yannick Maden beat Benoit Paire of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Maden will next play countryman Matthias Bachinger, who beat Frenchman Gregoire Barrere 6-0, 6-3.

The stars of the ATP World Tour thrill fans around the world. And now, those fans have an opportunity to pay back the players. For the first time, the International Tennis Hall of Fame is utilising fan voting as part of its process to decide who gains entry in the Class of 2019.

This year, five former ATP World Tour standouts were nominated: former World No. 1s in the ATP Rankings, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Thomas Muster, former No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings Jonas Bjorkman, 22-time tour-level champion Goran Ivanisevic and 1993-94 Roland Garros titlist Sergi Bruguera. Conchita Martinez, Li Na and Mary Pierce are also on the ballot. Fans can have their say until voting closes on 7 October at 11:59 pm ET.

“There is a real opportunity for fans to actually get someone over the hump and get someone in. And it’s something that should happen. Our memories are only as great as we remember them because of fan participation, whether it’s in a match or at practices or watching us on TV, so there’s no reason that should stop when it comes to the Hall of Fame,” former World No. 1 and Class of 2017 inductee Andy Roddick said in an interview with Tennis.com. “I think it’s a great idea, I think it’s a progressive idea, and I applaud the Hall of Fame for taking this step and I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

Entry into the Hall of Fame requires a 75 per cent affirmative vote. In the past, only Hall of Famers, historians and journalists were allowed to vote. But now, the fans can make an impact. The Top 3 recipients in the Fan Vote will receive bonus points. The top vote-getter will add three percentage points to their total, the second-placed player will be awarded two extra points and the third-placed athlete will get one point.

As an example, if a player receives affirmative votes from 72 per cent of the Voting Group, but they win the fan vote, the three bonus percentage points they earn will bring them to 75 per cent, earning them entry into the Hall of Fame.

“We’re thrilled to add this new Fan Voting component to the Hall of Fame voting process,” said International Tennis Hall of Fame CEO Todd Martin. “Creating an authentic connection between tennis fans and the greatest champions of our sport will be an engaging execution of our mission to promote and celebrate tennis history. Tennis is such a global sport and the fans of our inductees come from every corner of the globe. We know they might not all be able to get to Newport to see an induction, but hopefully this voting program will offer an opportunity for them to enjoy being part of the process.”

More than 25,000 fans from more than 120 countries have voted thus far. As of 20 September, Ivanisevic leads the field, followed by Li Na and Mary Pierce. 

Click here to vote

If you can get on base three times out of 10 in baseball, which is referred to as batting .300, then you are one of the elite in the sport.

Statistics in tennis usually focus on much higher winning percentages, but an equivalent stat does exist with an almost identical win percentage – points won returning first serves.

In baseball, you must stare down a 100 mph fastball, and in tennis the speed of a first serve can regularly reach 130-mph plus. Both very difficult propositions to begin the contest.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the current Top 20 from the 2015 season to present identifies that, on average, they win 29.5 per cent against first serves, or .295 in baseball vernacular.

The batter and the returner both face serious heat to begin the point, and both are defined as “successful” if they conquer the pitcher or server just one out of every three times.

Since 2015, Rafael Nadal leads the current Top 20 with points won returning first serves at 34.5 per cent. The other seven players that successfully batted above .300 are Novak Djokovic (34.2%), Diego Schwartzman (33%), Roger Federer (32.3%), Fabio Fognini (31.5%), David Goffin (31.4%), Kei Nishikori (30.6%) and Dominic Thiem (30.4%).

Current Top 20: Points Won Returning First Serves 2015 to present

What’s interesting is how much the court surface factors into points won against first serves.

Of the seven ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments completed so far in 2018, Nadal has the largest total of first-serve return points won by a champion, and also the least. At the clay-court Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, he won a staggering 43.6 per cent of first-serve return points, but won just 29.1 per cent while winning the Rogers Cup, the hard-court Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto.

2018 Completed Masters 1000 Events: First-Serve Return Points Won By Champion

The clay-court tournament winners at Monte-Carlo, Rome and Madrid averaged winning 40.2 per cent of first-serve return points, while the hard-court champions at Cincinnati, Indian Wells, Miami and Toronto were way off that pace, winning 31.5 per cent of first-serve return points.

Baseball has a pitcher and a hitter. Tennis has a server and a receiver. The similarities, particularly defined by the winning percentages, are striking.

Dominic Thiem arrived in Russia fresh off his first hard-court quarter-final appearance at a Grand Slam, having reached the last eight at the US Open. And the Austrian maintained that form at the St. Petersburg Open on Thursday, defeating Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(4), 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals.

The top seed has now made it to this stage or further at 12 of 18 tour-level events this year. Thiem owns 45 wins in 2018 (45-14), tying World No. 1 Rafael Nadal (45-4) and No. 5 Alexander Zverev (45-14) for the most victories on the ATP World Tour. It is the third straight year that the Austrian has reached the 45-win plateau. 

The 25-year-old did well to protect his first serve against the German, winning 80 per cent of those points. He saved all three break points he faced in the second set en route to closing out the match after one hour, 35 minutes. Thiem will next face eighth seed Daniil Medvedev, who saved four of five break points to beat Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4 in one hour, 23 minutes. The home favourite captured his first two titles earlier this year in Sydney and Winston-Salem.

It wasn’t easy, but #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov continued his pursuit of a maiden ATP World Tour title with a 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-0 victory against Italian Matteo Berrettini. Shapovalov now owns 30 wins on the season, as he continues his ascent up the ATP Rankings. This June, the 19-year-old left-hander peaked at World No. 23, becoming the youngest player to crack the Top 25 since 2005.

While the Bahamas resident did not quite back up his fourth-round US Open run from 2017, he showed good form in Flushing Meadows by pushing last year’s finalist, Kevin Anderson, to five sets in the third round. And he has carried that level to Russia, where he will face 2012 titlist Martin Klizan for a spot in the last four. It will be the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Against Berrettini, Shapovalov had to find some of his best tennis after facing a set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break and then dropping the second set. The seventh seed won all 12 of his service points in the decider and captured an impressive 83 per cent of second-serve return points in the third set to finish strong, earning the victory after one hour, 58 minutes.

Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut defeated home favourite Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3 in the final match of the Russian’s career, leaving ‘The Colonel’ with 499 tour-level match wins. Youzhny completes a career that spanned nearly two decades with 10 ATP World Tour titles and more than $14 million in prize money.

“I don’t have so much emotions, because now nothing changes for me. Yeah I understand, from one part of my mind, I finished my tennis career and now it’s going to be a new life for me. But if you say right now after the match, nothing changed,” Youzhny said. “From the beginning until the end, I was professional. The level of my game in last match shows that I’m retiring actually at a very good level.”

As you’d expect from one of the ATP World Tour’s toughest competitors, Youzhny did not go down without a fight against the World No. 26. Despite faliing to convert on two set points in the first set, he forced a decider and took a 15/40 advantage on the Spaniard’s serve at 3-3. But the 36-year-old missed backhands in the net on the next four points, and then double faulted on break point in the next game.

We salute YOU, Mikhail Youzhny! ?

Send “The Colonel” a salute to congratulate him on a successful career and retirement ?‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/P6V8Who6Ya

— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) September 20, 2018 

Sixth seed Damir Dzumhur, who lifted his first tour-level trophy in St. Petersburg one year ago, ousted Argentine Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4 in 77 minutes to move closer to retaining his crown. The 26-year-old has won two more titles since his breakthrough in Russia. But if he’s to add a fourth to his trophy case, it will not be easy.

In the quarter-finals, Dzumhur will face former World No 3 Stan Wawrinka, who summoned some of his best tennis on Wednesday to defeat home favourite and fourth seed Karen Khachanov in two tie-breaks. Dzumhur won their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting last season in Dubai. 

Did You Know?
Shapovalov has now reached the quarter-finals or better at four ATP World Tour events this season. He had only made the last eight once at this level entering the 2018 campaign.