No. 4 (Career High) Juan Martin del Potro, +2
The popular Argentine has risen back to his career-high of No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, which he first attained on 11 January 2010, after a run to his second Roland Garros semi-final (also 2009). Del Potro beat Top 10 stars John Isner and Marin Cilic in Paris, prior to losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. He returned to the Top 10 on 15 January 2018 and was previously at No. 4 on 10 February 2014.

View Latest ATP Ranking 

No. 27 (Career High) Marco Cecchinato, +45
The Italian, who was at No. 107 on 5 March this year, continues his dramatic rise to a career-high No. 27, after a 45-position rise with his first appearance in a Grand Slam championship semi-final in Paris, losing to Dominic Thiem. The 25-year-old beat David Goffin and 2016 champion Novak Djokovic. He captured his first ATP World Tour title as a lucky loser at the Gazprom Hungarian Open (d. Millman) on 29 April, which resulted in a 33-place rise from No. 92 to No. 59.

No. 50 (Career High) Maximilian Marterer, +20
The 22-year-old German, competing in just his third major championship, advanced to the fourth round (l. to Nadal) on his Roland Garros debut by beating Ryan Harrison, Denis Shapovalov and Jurgen Zopp. One month on from reaching the BMW Open by FWU Open semi-finals (l. to Kohlschreiber), Marterer moved up 20 places to a career-high No. 50.

No. 72 Jeremy Chardy, +14
The Frenchman, who was at a career-high No. 25 on 28 January 2013, captured the sixth ATP Challenger Tour title of his career at the Surbiton Trophy (d. De Minaur), having lost in the Roland Garros second round (l. to Herbert) a week earlier. He jumped 14 places to World No. 72.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers This Week
No. 54 Mischa Zverev, +10
No. 55 Gilles Simon, +10
No. 77 Pierre-Hugues Herbert, +10
No. 80 (Career High) Matteo Berrettini, +16
No. 87 Nikoloz Basilashvili, +10
No. 96 (Career High) Alex de Minaur, +9

Finish to A.

Rafael Nadal pounded 126 forehand groundstroke winners from around the baseline over the past two weeks in Paris to win an unprecedented 11th Roland Garros title on Sunday. No piece of real estate mattered more to him than Position A.

Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday’s final, hitting 14 forehand winners from the back of the court, with nine (64 per cent) of them powering through his favourite forehand finishing location of A.

Tennis is a very much a C to C sport when rallying. Typically, two right-handed players trade blows through the Ad court at each other’s backhands, but don’t rally wide to D because there is too much risk with the singles sideline in play.

For Nadal, C is the perfect place to set up the point. Position A is where he drops the hammer.

A study of Nadal’s forehand winners from seven matches at Roland Garros this year reveals the key patterns of play that formed the foundation of the Spaniard’s run to the title – and undoubtedly heavily contributed to his preceding 10 titles in Paris.

Nadal’s forehand has never been studied in such detail, with the following four elements revealing the inner workings of the biggest baseline weapon in the modern game.

1. Winners Go To A
Being left-handed, we naturally fixate on Nadal dominating through the Ad court to C and D against right-handed opponent’s backhands. That’s just where he sets the point up. Those are the body blows.

Nadal played five right-handed and two left-handed opponents at Roland Garros the past two weeks, and his game plan remained basically the same against them all: run around his own backhand in the Deuce court and finish out wide to A.

Location of Nadal’s Forehand Winners
Position A = 66% (83)

Position B = 2% (2)

Position C = 1% (1)

Position D = 32% (40)

2. Forehand Winners Are Struck From B & D
Nadal loves to run around his backhand and hit forehand winners standing in B, as well as go big from out wide in the Ad court from D.

Nadal Forehand Winners – Position Hit From
Position A = 20% (25)

Position B = 33% (41)

Position C = 14% (18)

Position D = 33% (42)

When Nadal was standing in B hitting a forehand winner, 68 per cent (27/40) were run-around forehand winners hit inside-out to Position A. This was a huge part of his run to his 11th Paris title. Just 32 per cent (13/40) were hit inside-in from B down the line to D. The modern forehand is all about inside-out.

When Nadal was standing in D, he hit a remarkable 80 per cent (33/41) of his forehand winners right down the line to Position A. Opponents typically want to cover the crosscourt, sitting on Nadal’s heavy, lefty forehand to their backhand. That’s exactly the finishing trap that the Spaniard looks to exploit.

3. Forehand Winners Happen More When Serving
We have never really made the connection between hitting forehands and hitting serves, but the two lived in perfect harmony for Nadal at Roland Garros. Right at two out of three of his forehand winners came when he was serving.

Forehand Winners
When Serving = 65% (82)

When Receiving = 35% (44)

4. The Run-Around Forehand Dominates
With Nadal being left-handed, the natural place for him to make contact with forehands is standing in the Ad court. Not so for forehand winners. Nadal’s run-around forehands standing in the Deuce court produced more winners at Roland Garros than his forehands from the Ad court.

Winners: Location Contact Hit From
Deuce Court = 52% (66) – Run Around forehands.

Ad Court = 48% (60) – Normal forehands.

Overall, Nadal hit 126 groundstroke forehand winners and committed 166 errors. That means if the last shot of the rally was a forehand groundstroke, 43 per cent of the of the time it was a winner, and 57 per cent of the time it was an error.

On the surface that does not seem impressive, but take into account that errors made up 66 per cent of total points at Roland Garros this year, and those 43 per cent of errors are viewed in an upgraded light.

Forehands to A took another major title in Paris on Sunday.

With everything to play for, Rafael Nadal saved arguably his best performance for last. The World No. 1 exhibited yet another ruthless display of aggression to emerge with the Roland Garros title on Sunday.

Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 42 minutes to seize the Coupe des Mousquetaires for an unprecedented 11th time. The Spaniard saves his top level for championship occasions like these, and Sunday’s affair on Court Philippe Chatrier was no exception.

It is unfathomable. Eleven titles at a single Grand Slam tournament. ‘La Undécima’ lifts Nadal to truly historic territory. No other man or woman has achieved the feat in the Open Era.

At the age of 32, Nadal continues to strengthen his legacy on his most dominant surface. Less than two months after lifting an 11th trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and following that up with another ‘Undécima’ at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, the Spaniard completed the set with his victory on Sunday at Roland Garros. Moreover, Nadal remains atop the ATP Rankings for a 177th week.

With the victory, the Manacor native adds a 17th Grand Slam crown, which draws him to within three of Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20. Furthermore, Nadal became just the fourth man in the Open Era to win three or more major titles after turning 30. It is an exclusive club that also includes Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. 

Grand Slam Title Leaders

For the second straight year, Nadal leaves the European clay-court season with a staggering 24-1 mark. His only blemish was a quarter-final defeat to Thiem in his home capital of Madrid. But the Austrian was unable to find the formula to upset his Spanish opponent twice in one campaign.

Thiem made it a tight encounter early in the opener, with the first set lasting 67 minutes. The Austrian broke back after Nadal seized an immediate break for 2-0, but was unable to sustain the same level of energy and pressure on the Spaniard throughout the match. 

Two breaks in the second set proved critical and Nadal would roll from there, claiming the decisive break for 2-1 in the third after escaping a 0/40 deficit in the opening game. He secured his 11th Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy after two hours and 42 minutes, firing a service winner on his fifth match point.

Nadal won 82 per cent of points on his first serve while claiming nearly half of total return points (47 per cent). Thiem did well to strike 34 winners (to Nadal’s 26), but was victimised by 42 unforced errors.

The World No. 1 extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead to 7-3, with all of their meetings coming on clay. One year after relinquishing just seven games in their semi-final encounter, Nadal replicated the feat. He is now 2-1 against Thiem this year, with his other victory coming in the Monte-Carlo quarter-finals.

Most Titles At A Single Tournament (Open Era)

Nadal’s 57th clay-court title caps a remarkable turnaround for the Spaniard. Just three months ago, he was forced to withdraw from ATP World Tour stops in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami due to a right hip injury. And now, he leaves the clay-court season with the loss of just five sets in 25 matches.

Moreover, Nadal claimed a tour-leading fourth title of 2018 and joins Thiem and Alexander Zverev as 30-match winners this year. Thiem, who remains on top of the match wins leaderboard with a 35-9 win-loss mark, will celebrate a strong fortnight in Paris. The 24-year-old advanced to his first Grand Slam final with impressive victories over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, Kei Nishikori, Alexander Zverev and Marco Cecchinato. 

“I think it was the first time against him here in Roland Garros where it was a fight,” said Thiem. “It was a decent match from my side. He was playing very well, I think, and there is a reason why he won 11 times here. It’s definitely one of the best things somebody ever achieved in sport.

“For sure I’m confident that this was not my last Grand Slam final, and that’s my biggest goal, to get into the next one and then to do it better than today.”

Thiem moves up one spot in the ATP Rankings, rising to No. 7 on Monday. Contesting his 17th tour-level final, he falls to 10-7 in title matches and 2-2 this year. He previously lifted the trophy in Buenos Aires and Lyon two weeks ago. His 10-match win streak entering the final equals the longest of his career.

“Of course it was a special thing for me to play the first slam final,” added Thiem. “But on the other hand, I was pretty calm and I knew that I go into it like it would be any other match. I think this was the right approach because if I let too much happen, my emotions, everything, because it’s the first Grand Slam final, it wouldn’t suit my game very well, and that’s why I went into it like every other match.”

2018 Match Wins Leaders