Goffin Tests His Cooking Skills In Shenzhen 2016
Goffin Tests His Cooking Skills In Shenzhen 2016
Sep292016
ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS now allow fans to compare the year-end No. 1s in Serve, Return and Under Pressure categories from every season since 1991
Some Monday mornings are better than others.
Take, for example, 2 February, 2004. On this particular Monday morning, Roger Federer, aged 22, woke up for the first time in his life with the No. 1 ranking beside his name. It was day one at the top of the global tennis tree, courtesy of defeating Marat Safin 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Australian Open the day before.
The Swiss legend would go on to hold the coveted year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2004 – the first of five times he would earn that distinction. He held the top spot four straight years, from 2004-2007, and again in 2009.
The 2004 season was a coming out party for Federer. He won three majors, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and three Masters 1000s among an 11-title haul and a 74-6 match record. In many ways, 2004 was as good a body of work as he has ever put together.
An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Federer’s 2004 season showed he elevated his serving and returning and at pivotal moments during matches. The new year-end Infosys No. 1 LEADERBOARD spans 25 years back to 1991, allowing a comparison of the No. 1 player from each year in the categories of serve, return and under pressure.
See the all-new No. 1s ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS
Holding Serve
Federer’s prowess holding serve in 2004 was without peer, and amazingly his average was higher against Top 10 opponents. In 2004 he won 91.6 per cent of his service games, and that bumped up to 92.5 per cent when facing Top 10 opponents. (Fans can filter the LEADERBOARDS by performances against Top 10, Top 20 and Top 50 opponents.)
Service Games Won: Top 5 Years Since 1991
| Year | Player | Service Games Won |
| 2004 | Roger Federer | 91.6% |
| 2003 | Andy Roddick | 91.4% |
| 1996 | Pete Sampras | 91% |
| 1997 | Pete Sampras | 90.4% |
| 2006 | Roger Federer | 90.2% |
Returning Serve
On the returning side of the equation, Federer had his best year of returning first serves in 2004, winning 34.8 per cent of first-serve return points. (He achieved the same percentage in 2006). Federer trails category leader Novak Djokovic, 35.7 per cent in 2011, by less than one percentage point. Remarkably, Federer’s return prowess against first serves in 2004 was superior to other notable year-end No. 1 returners, such as Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Djokovic in 2014 and 2015.
Under Pressure
Federer’s remarkable level of play in 2004 directly helped him save more break points than any year-end No 1 player. Federer saved 72.6 per cent of break points, edging Pete Sampras’ 1996 season, 72.3 per cent.
Tie-breaks were another key area that helped Federer put together an unparalleled season. He won 80 per cent of the end-of-set shootouts, best among the year-end No. 1s. Dominating tie-breaks has been a calling card of the Swiss. During all five years he finished No. 1, he won at least 70 per cent of the tie-breaks he played.
Federer’s career continues to evolve some 12 years later, but his 2004 season was one for the ages.
Britain’s Johanna Konta was knocked out of the Wuhan Open in the quarter-finals, losing 6-3 6-4 to Czech 14th seed Petra Kvitova in China.
Kvitova, playing the day after her mammoth three-hour victory over Angelique Kerber, put in a dominant performance against a tired Konta.
The defeat keeps Konta 10th in the Race to Singapore, 273 points behind the final qualifying place.
Kvitova faces Romania’s fourth seed Simona Halep in the semi-finals.
Australian and Brazilian to meet for a third time
Despite an ace count half his opponent’s, Bernard Tomic delivered a composed performance at crucial moments to end qualifier Ryan Harrison’s three-match Shenzhen Open winning streak on Thursday. The Australian No. 4 seed broke in the final game of the match to emerge with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory in just over two hours.
It marks the 23 year old’s eighth ATP World Tour quarter-final this season and sets up a clash with Brazilian lefty Thomaz Bellucci, an earlier winner over lucky loser Thomas Fabbiano. Tomic withstood 20 aces from Harrison and won fewer first-serve points than the American, 68 per cent to 81 per cent. But the Aussie made bigger inroad’s on his opponent’s second serve to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Harrison to 2-0. It was the pair’s first clash since 2012.
Bellucci, meanwhile, has yet to drop a set after winning through to the quarter-finals with a narrow 7-6(2), 7-6(4) victory over Fabbiano. The unseeded lefty prevailed on the back of 13 aces to reach the last eight at an ATP World Tour event for the first time this season. He has split two previous FedEx Head2Head meetings with Tomic.
Fabbiano had replaced fifth seed and #NextGen star Alexander Zverev as a lucky loser on Wednesday only minutes before taking the court to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. The 27-year-old Fabbiano fell short of reaching his second quarter-final of the season against Bellucci, who backed up his first-round dismissal of Gastao Elias.
In doubles, third seeds Mate Pavic and Michael Venus posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jonathan Erlich and Santiago Gonzalez. They will take on Fabio Fognini and Robert Lindstedt after the unseeded pair routed Pablo Andujar and Richard Gasquet 6-0, 6-1.
Serbian Viktor Troicki is through to his sixth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season after claiming his first win over Marcos Baghdatis in six years at the Chengdu Open on Thursday. The sixth seed ground out a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 second-round result in one hour and 47 minutes for a shot at second seed Nick Kyrgios or Kevin Anderson next.
Baghdatis had won four of his previous five FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with Troicki, including the past three. But he was coming off a three-hour-plus victory over Pablo Carreno Bustsa from the day before, in stark contrast to the one hour and 13 minutes Troicki had spent seeing off Norwegian wild card Casper Ruud. Troicki finished stronger against Baghdatis, dropping just one point on serve in the final set and broke twice to seal the result.
In doubles, Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Indians Purav Raja and Divij Sharan. They await either top seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram or Kyrgios and Troicki.
Welcome to the 2016 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, where we recognise outstanding players and tournaments. Vote for your favourite players now and come back 17 October to view the nominees for the player-voted categories.
Voting for the ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon closes at 11.59pm GMT on Monday, 7 November.
Voted By Fans
Note: Fans’ Favourite candidates are the Top 20 players in the Emirates ATP Race To London and Top 15 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London as of 12 September 2016.
Welcome to the 2016 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, where we recognise outstanding players and tournaments. Nominees for the player-voted categories and the new ATP Coach of the Year award will be revealed 17 October.
Voted By Fans
ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favourite presented by Moët & Chandon (Singles, Doubles): The singles player and doubles team receiving the highest number of votes from ATPWorldTour.com fans from now through 7 November.
Determined By Emirates ATP Rankings
ATP World Tour No. 1 Presented by Emirates: The player who ends the year as World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
ATP World Tour No. 1 Doubles Team Presented by Emirates: The team that ends the year as World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings.
ATP Star Of Tomorrow Presented by Emirates: The youngest player in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings as of 7 November 2016.
Voted By Players
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award: The player who, throughout the year, conducted himself at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, who competed with his fellow players with the utmost spirit of fairness and who promoted the game through his off-court activities.
Most Improved Player of the Year: The player who reached a significantly higher Emirates ATP Ranking by year’s end and who demonstrated an increasingly improved level of performance through the year.
Comeback Player of the Year: The player who has overcome injury/illness in reestablishing himself as one of the top players on the ATP World Tour.
Tournaments of the Year: The tournament in its category that operated at the highest level of professionalism and integrity and which provided the best conditions and atmosphere for participating players.
Categories:
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
ATP World Tour 500
ATP World Tour 250
Note: Tournament awards will be announced in 2017
Voted By Coaches
(New for 2016) ATP Coach of the Year: Voted on by fellow ATP coach members, this award goes to the ATP coach who helped guide his players to a higher level of performance during the year.
Chosen By ATP
Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award: The person who has made outstanding humanitarian contributions. Previous winners include James Blake, Roger Federer, Carlos Moya, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Arthur Ashe.
Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award: The journalist who has made significant contributions to the game of tennis.
In the midst of a resurgent 2016 campaign, Marco Chiudinelli is pushing towards a return to the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 35-year-old Swiss, who has soared more than 150 spots to World No. 125, has amassed 25 wins this year on the ATP Challenger Tour and owes much of his success to a dominant run in tie-breaks.
Calm under pressure, Chiudinelli established an impressive streak of 13 consecutive Challenger tie-breaks won from January to September. Despite dropping the first set 7-6(3) to eventual champion Marsel Ilhan at last week’s event in Izmir, Turkey, it will go down as the second-longest streak on the circuit since 2000. Only South Africa’s Wesley Moodie has won more tie-breaks in a row, when he strung together 14 straight from 2002-03.
“I have a lot of runs,” Chiudinelli told ATPWorldTour.com. “Last year, I had a negative one and this was a pretty positive one. It obviously helps me to stay calm in the tie-breaks. They have gone so well for me this year.
“I lost a pretty big one in Davis Cup, but knowing that I won many this year does help. You just keep believing and it definitely gives me confidence knowing that I’ve had such a good tie-break run. It doesn’t give you any guarantees, but this year it’s been good for me.”
Chiudinelli, runner-up in Manila in January and titlist on the hard courts of Wroclaw, Poland, a month later, continues to turn back the clock as the season progresses. After reaching the US Open second round as a qualifier, the Swiss carried the momentum into Istanbul, advancing to his fourth Challenger semi-final of the year (l. to Sela). He will look to start a new tie-break streak at this week’s prestigious indoor event in Orleans, France.