Rafael Nadal is essentially the same server on clay courts and hard courts. It’s the returning side of the game on clay where beast mode kicks in for the Spaniard. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Nadal identifies that his serve metrics remarkably stay similar when he switches surfaces, from hard to clay. Our impression is that everything dramatically improves on clay, but that’s simply not the case. Nadal Serving The following serve metrics show just how close his career serve numbers are between hard and clay. Nadal's Career Serve Metrics: Hard Court vs Clay Court Serving Career Hard-Court Win Percentage & Ranking Career Clay-Court Win Percentage & Ranking Service Games Won 85.48% (18th) 84.53% (6th) 1st Serve...
ATPWorldTour.com previews this week's four Davis Cup quarter-finals, which feature three of the Top 4 players in the ATP Rankings. SPAIN v GERMANY Venue: Plaza de Toros de Valencia – Valencia, Spain Surface: Clay (outdoors) Five-time champion Spain welcomes back World No. 1 Rafael Nadal for the first time in the competition since September 2016 in its 17th meeting against Germany, the 1988-89, ’93 titlist. Germany leads Spain 10-6 overall, but the two nations are 4-4 in clay-court ties. Spain has won 26 straight home Davis Cup ties, with its last defeat at home coming against Brazil in 1999. Nadal, who has not played since falling to Marin Cilic in the Australian Open quarter-finals more than two months ago, has...
Novak Djokovic has officially confirmed that he has ended his coaching partnerships with both Radek Stepanek and Andre Agassi. A statement posted on Djokovic’s official website announced, “After Miami, Novak Djokovic and his tennis coach Radek Stepanek decided to end their co-operation. “The private relationship with Stepanek was and will remain great, and Novak has enjoyed working with him and learning from him. He remains grateful and appreciative of all the support he has received from Radek during the last period. “Novak remains focused and eager to come back stronger and more resilient from [a] long injury break that has affected his confidence and game. He is continuously and passionately looking for new and different ways to regain [his] winning...
Does the past predict the future? In the case of the ATP Race To London, a position among the Top 10 after the first quarter of the season greatly enhances a player's chances of claiming a spot at the elite Nitto ATP Finals. Seven players among the Top 10 of the ATP Race To London, the year-to-date standings, on 4 April 2014 qualified for that year's season finale. Eight qualifiers were already in the Top 10 on 6 April 2015; there were seven on 4 April 2016 and seven Top 8 finishers, with one playing alternate, on 3 April last year. If 2018 is anything to go by, The O2 on the Greenwich peninsula in east London will welcome a mix...
The season is only three months old, but there has been plenty of excitement on the doubles court with one team dominating early and a pair of legends showing that they may have another No. 1 push in them. Marach/Pavic Begin Year With Tremendous Winning Streak Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic just missed out on a spot in last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, serving as alternates in the event before stepping in to win their only match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, denying the twins a spot in the semi-finals. But Marach/Pavic showed early on this year that they have no intentions of serving as alternates at The O2 again — they want to qualify out right. The Austrian-Croatian...