The year 2013 in men’s tennis was a remarkable one. As usual it was dominated by the big 4 or rather do we say big 3. Big 3 because a member of the original big 4 has dropped in performance and only managed only one title all year and that person: Roger Federer. Federer who is arguably the greatest male tennis player in the open era saw 2013 as his worse year to date in his career. He failed to make the final of a grand slam talk less of winning and his record of consecutive grand slam quarter final appearances came to end after he went of Wimbledon, where he has 7 titles to his name in the 2nd round. His performances have dropped so dramatically, it’s like a miracle if he can pull through a game he should win easily. He has been beaten by players ranked hundreds of places below him and it seems there is no way of coming back for him. After all, he has reached his peak aged 32. We can therefore now recognise a big 3 which dominated the year. The three in Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The one who stole the headlines was undoubtedly Nadal who came back this year after an injury affected 2012. He came back better than he has been in his career and swept most of the tournaments he played. Those wins were able to help him reclaim the no.1 player from Djokovic, who had a great year but compared to Nadal. Then Andy Murray had a great year, winning Wimbledon and becoming the first Brit to do so in over 70 years. Other players like Juan Martin del Potro, Veteran David Ferrer also had a great year. These are a few stat highlights to the 2013 men’s tennis.
Grand Slam finals
Australian Open: Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2
French Open: Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Wimbledon: Murray beat Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4
US Open: Nadal beat Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
Masters 1000 tournament winners
Indian Wells: Rafael Nadal
Miami: Andy Murray
Monte Carlo: Novak Djokovic
Madrid: Rafael Nadal
Rome: Rafael Nadal
Montreal: Rafael Nadal
Cincinnati: Rafael Nadal
Shanghai: Novak Djokovic
Paris: Novak Djokovic
Titles in 2013
Rafael Nadal – 10
Novak Djokovic – 6
Andy Murray – 4
Juan Martín del Potro – 4
Richard Gasquet – 3
Youngest Finals
Brisbane: Andy Murray (25) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (21)
Sydney: Bernard Tomic (20) vs. beat Kevin Anderson (26)
Oldest Finals
Munich: Tommy Haas (35) vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber (29)
Bogota: Ivo Karlovic (34) vs. beat Alejandro Falla (29)
Over 30 Winners – 16 (most since 1975)
David Ferrer – Auckland 30 years, 9 months
David Ferrer – Buenos Aires 30 years, 10 months
Tommy Robredo – Casablanca 30 years, 11 months
Tommy Haas – Munich 35 years, 1 month
Albert Montanes – Nice 32 years, 6 months
Roger Federer – Halle 31 years, 10 months
Feliciano Lopez – Eastbourne 31 years, 9 months
Nicolas Mahut– Hertogenbosch 31 years, 5 months
Nicolas Mahut – Newport 31 years, 5 months
Carlos Berlocq – Bastad 30 years, 5 months
Ivo Karlovic – Bogota 34 years, 4 months
Mikhail Youzhny – Gstaad 31 years, 1 month
Tommy Robredo – Umag 31 years, 2 months
Jurgen Melzer – Winston-Salem 32 years, 3 months
Tommy Haas – Vienna 35 years, 6 months
Mikhail Youzhny – Valencia 31 years, 4 months
Longest Winning Streaks
Player – Matches – Duration
Novak Djokovic – 22 – September 13-November 11
Rafael Nadal – 22 – April 22-June 24
Rafael Nadal – 22 – August 5-October 6
Rafael Nadal – 18 – February 11-April 21
Novak Djokovic – 17 (22 back to 2012) – January 14-March 16
Fabio Fognini – 13 – July 8-July 28
Andy Murray – 13 – June 10-August 8
Andy Murray – 10 – January 1-January 27
Titles won without losing a set (9)
Player – Tournament
Milos Raonic – San Jose
Juan Martin Del Potro – Rotterdam
Kei Nishikori – Memphis
Novak Djokovic – Dubai
Rafael Nadal – Acapulco
Rafael Nadal – Barcelona
Albert Montanes – Nice
Nicolas Mahut– Hertogenbosch
Gilles Simon – Metz
Most aces served
John Isner – 979
Milos Raonic – 883
Kevin Anderson – 651
Source: Eurosport