Novak Djokovic extended his FedEx ATP Head2Head dominance against Juan Martin del Potro, prevailing past the Argentine 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday afternoon after rain and lightning delayed their quarter-final match on Friday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Djokovic now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 14-4 and has won their past three matches. The Serbian advances to his second consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final on clay, including his last-four run last week at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Nadal). The World No. 2 will tackle double duty on Saturday: Djokovic will meet Austrian Dominic Thiem in the Rome semi-finals not before 8 p.m. local time. Watch Live On TennisTV Watch Full Match Replays The 29-year-old...
Second seed Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro were in for a late night on Friday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, but they’ll return to the court on Saturday to finish their quarter-final match. Rain and lightning forced them off with Djokovic serving at 6-1, 1-2. Djokovic dropped serve in the opening game, but won the next six games to take the 44-minute opening set. The Serbian hit 15 winners to a tidy 10 unforced errors in the first set, controlling the points by moving del Potro from side to side. Meanwhile, del Potro struggled for form and didn’t hit a backhand winner in the opening set, finishing with six winners to 11 unforced errors. The Argentine reigned his...
Watch highlights of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic advancing, while John Isner upsets Stan Wawrinka Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Watch live matches at tennistv.com. Photo: Pete Staples/ATP World Tour.
What happens if you take a 50-50 battle, and tip it just five percentage points in your favour? You become the No. 1 player in the world. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of year-end No. 1 players since 1991, when statistics were first recorded in tennis, uncovers that reaching the pinnacle of our sport is predicated on winning with a lot smaller margin of victory than we realise. The following breakdown shows how many times a player finished as year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and the percentage of points he won that season. 1991-2016: Year-End No. 1 Winning Percentage of Points Played Points: Winning Percentage Year-End No. 1 Total 55% 12 54% 7 53% 4...
Four-time champion Novak Djokovic persisted past a confident clay-court player on Tuesday during his Internazionali BNL d'Italia opener, beating British qualifier Aljaz Bedene 7-6(2), 6-2 on Campo Centrale in Rome. Djokovic is coming off his best result at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament this season, a semi-final run at the Mutua Madrid Open last week (l. to eventual champion Nadal). But the World No. 2 had to overcome some early rust against Bedene, who has enjoyed his best stretch on clay during recent months, including a final run at the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open in Budapest last month. Watch Live On TennisTV Watch Full Match Replays The Serbian was broken at the start of the match, but quickly...