2. Roger Federer d. Marin Cilic 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3/QF/Wimbledon Every year lately, when a certain Swiss player heads to a certain grass tennis club in England, his millions of fans ask a four-word question: Is this the year? As in, is this the year Roger Federer will win his record eighth Wimbledon title? This June, it had been four years since the right-hander had captured his seventh Wimbledon crown. He had come close in 2014 and 2015, losing in the final to Novak Djokovic, and that's exactly why Federer fans were so excited before his quarter-final match against Marin Cilic. Djokovic, the three-time Wimbledon champion, had lost to Sam Querrey in the third round, leaving second seed Andy...
In August 2015, the spotlight had not yet discovered 17-year-old American Taylor Fritz. He was No. 685 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and had lost in the first round of US Open qualifying to No. 123 Luca Vanni 6-3, 6-3. Fritz won only three points against the Italian’s first serve, four against his second serve, and was not able to generate a single break point. And then everything changed. The American won 11 straight matches and strung together four impressive results in four months: Oct. 2015: Won $100K Challenger, Sacramento, California Oct. 2015: Won $50K Challenger, Fairfield, California Nov. 2015: Finalist $50K Challenger, Champaign, Illinois Jan. 2016: Won $75K Challenger, Onkaparinga, Australia Fritz’s ranking jumped from No. 685 to No....
5. Kei Nishikori d. Andy Murray 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5/QF/US Open To some, Andy Murray was the favourite, the pick to win his second US Open and claim back-to-back Grand Slam championships during the second half of 2016. The Scot, who had won his second Wimbledon title in July, was certainly playing like a top contender in New York. Before his quarter-final against Kei Nishikori, Murray had gone 26-1 since his first match at The Queen's Club in London, where he'd won a record fifth title. Some doubted his main competition as well. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic had endured an up-and-down July and August. The Serbian had lost in the third round at Wimbledon and in the first...
2. Andy Murray d. Kei Nishikori 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4/RR/Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Novak Djokovic was the final obstacle Andy Murray faced during his historic run to year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. But looking back on it, Kei Nishikori might have been Murray's trickiest opponent during the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Coming into their round-robin match, Murray had been on a roll. He'd won 20 consecutive matches, including back-to-back-to-back-to-back titles in Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna and Paris. But before Murray stopped losing this season, Nishikori had been one of the few players who had figured out how to beat him during the second half of the season. And he upset Murray on one of tennis'...
5. Rafael Nadal d. Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0/F/Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters At the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, it was best if you had simply forgotten about the Gael Monfils you had once known – the fun, care-free player who liked to entertain as much as he liked to win. Because the Monfils who had dashed through to the Monte-Carlo final was not that Monfils. This Monfils had gone a perfect 10-0 in sets, racing to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title match. He had beaten Jiri Vesely – the left-hander who had upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic – 6-1, 6-2, and Monfils had dominated countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-1, 6-3 in the semi-finals. So impressive had Monfils been that...