Stats: Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Nadal – legendary rivalries
This year’s US Open semi-finals were consisted of players making historical “head to heads” at majors, not only in the current era, but in the entire Open era as well. The Djokovic-Federer pair becomes the first one in the Open era to play five consecutive years in the same tournament (!), they have also tied the McEnroe-Connors pair given the number of major semifinals – seven (four in New York, two in Melbourne, one in Paris). The Nadal-Murray pair has created just one out of 17 combinations to play against each other in every Grand Slam event. Djokovic and Federer never met at Wimbledon, despite their high frequency of meetings… Both this year’s US Open semi-final pairs, have played three consecutive matches at all Slams, only five other pairs achieved such a feat! Obviously the Federer-Nadal pair is a special one too, because they met five times in one Slam (Roland Garros); Djokovic and Nadal have played 28 matches against each other – it places them behind only five ‘bigger’ H2H confrontations. On this background a H2H of Djokovic & Murray looks modestly, but Federer is 5-6 years older than the rest of the group, so very likely Djokovic and Murray will be playing more often against each other in the future when Federer steps aside. Another interesting fact about amazing supremacy and consistency of these four guys: each of them has reached semifinals of all Grand Slam events within a year, in almost 40 years of the Open era prior to their activity at the top, only three players (Laver, Roche & Lendl) had managed to do the same thing!
Updated after Wimbledon 2019
# Top 4 in the years 2007-2018:
2007: 1 – Federer, 2 – Nadal, 3 – Djokovic, 4 – Davydenko (… 11 – Murray)
2008: 1 – Nadal, 2 – Federer, 3 – Djokovic, 4 – Murray
2009: 1 – Federer, 2 – Nadal, 3 – Djokovic, 4 – Murray
2010: 1 – Nadal, 2 – Federer, 3 – Djokovic, 4 – Murray
2011: 1 – Djokovic, 2 – Nadal, 3 – Federer, 4 – Murray
2012: 1 – Djokovic, 2 – Federer, 3 – Murray, 4 – Nadal
2013: 1 – Nadal, 2 – Djokovic, 3 – Ferrer, 4 – Murray (… 6 – Federer)
2014: 1 – Djokovic, 2 – Federer, 3 – Nadal, 4 – Wawrinka (… 6 – Murray)
2015: 1 – Djokovic, 2 – Murray, 3 – Federer, 4 – Wawrinka (… 5 – Nadal)
2016: 1 – Murray, 2 – Djokovic, 3 – Raonic, 4 – Wawrinka (…9 – Nadal, 16 – Federer)
2017: 1 – Nadal, 2 – Federer, 3 – Dimitrov, 4 – A.Zverev (…12 – Djokovic, 16 – Murray)
2018: 1 – Djokovic, 2 – Nadal, 3 – Federer, 4 – A.Zverev (…262 – Murray)
# Players to reach all Grand Slam semi-finals within a year:
1969: Rod Laver & Tony Roche
1987: Ivan Lendl
2005-09: Roger Federer
2008: Rafael Nadal
2011-13: Novak Djokovic (2015) & Andy Murray – 2011
# Biggest “Head to Heads”:
54 – Novak Djokovic vs. Rafael Nadal (28-26)
48 – Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer (26-22)
40 – Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer (24-16)
36 – Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray (25-11)
36 – Ivan Lendl vs. John McEnroe (21-15)
35 – Boris Becker vs. Stefan Edberg (25-10)
35 – Ivan Lendl vs. Jimmy Connors (22-13)
34 – John McEnroe vs. Jimmy Connors (20-14)
34 – Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi (20-14)
32 – Rafael Nadal vs. David Ferrer (26-6)
# Most matches at majors:
16 – Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer (10-6)
15 – Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic (9-6)
14 – Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer (10-4)
10 – Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray (8-2)
10 – Ivan Lendl vs. John McEnroe (7-3)
9 – Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray (7-2)
9 – John McEnroe vs. Jimmy Connors (6-3)
9 – Ivan Lendl vs. Mats Wilander (5-4)
9 – Stefan Edberg vs. Ivan Lendl (5-4)
9 – Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi (6-3)
8 – Roger Federer vs. Lleyton Hewitt (8-0)
8 – Roger Federer vs. Andy Roddick (8-0)
8 – Pete Sampras vs. Jim Courier (6-2)
8 – Bjorn Borg vs. Jimmy Connors (5-3)
# Most matches at one major:
Roland Garros (2006-15): Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic (6-1)
Roland Garros (2005-19): Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer (6-0)
US Open (2007-14): Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic (3-3)
US Open (1980-87): Ivan Lendl vs. John McEnroe (3-2)
US Open (1982-92): Ivan Lendl vs. Jimmy Connors (3-2)
Australian Open (2011-16): Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray (5-0)
# Most consecutive matches at one major:
5 – US Open (2007-11): Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic
4 – Roland Garros (1989-92): Jim Courier vs. Andre Agassi
4 – Roland Garros (2005-08): Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer
4 – Roland Garros (2012-15): Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic
# Four consecutive matches at all Slams:
(Wimbledon 2011 – Roland Garros 2012) R.Nadal vs. N.Djokovic
# Three consecutive matches at all Slams:
(US Open 1983 – Roland Garros 1984) I.Lendl vs. M.Wilander
(Roland Garros – US Open 1984) J.McEnroe vs. J.Connors
(Roland Garros – US Open 2003) P.Srichaphan vs. D.Hrbaty
(Wimbledon 2005 – Australian Open 2006) R.Federer vs. N.Kiefer
(Roland Garros – US Open 2008) J.Chardy vs. F.Gil
(US Open 2010 – Roland Garros 2011) N.Djokovic vs. R.Federer
(Roland Garros 2011 – US Open 2011) R.Nadal vs. A.Murray
(US Open 2014 – Roland Garros 2015) N.Djokovic vs. A.Murray
# Pairs of players who have faced each other at all four majors:
(1985-1987) H.Leconte vs. A.Mansdorf
(1980-1989) J.McEnroe vs. I.Lendl
(1983-1989) J.McEnroe vs. M.Wilander
(1991-1993) S.Edberg vs. J.Courier
(1991-1994) P.Sampras vs. J.Courier
(1989-1995) P.Sampras vs. M.Chang
(1990-1995) P.Sampras vs. A.Agassi
(1992-1996) P.Sampras vs. T.Martin
(1994-2000) P.Sampras vs. M.Tillstrom
(1995-2000) P.Sampras vs. M.Philippoussis
(2004-2006) R.Federer vs. N.Kiefer
(2002-2006) M.Safin vs. O.Rochus
(2005-2007) D.Tursunov vs. T.Henman
(2001-2009) A.Roddick vs. L.Hewitt
(2007-2009) R.Federer vs. JM.Del Potro
(2007-2011) R.Nadal vs. A.Murray
(2003-2011) R.Federer vs. D.Nalbandian
(2006-2012) R.Nadal vs. N.Djokovic
(2009-2012) A.Murray vs. M.Cilic
(2007-2012) R.Federer vs. N.Djokovic
(2006-2012) R.Federer vs. T.Berdych
(2010-2013) R.Federer vs. JW.Tsonga
(2011-2015) N.Djokovic vs. A.Murray
(2006-2016) D.Ferrer vs. L.Hewitt
(2015-2016) A.Murray vs. N.Kyrgios
(2010-2016) A.Murray vs. T.Berdych
(2007-2018) A.Murray vs. F.Verdasco
# Most meetings between two players within a year:
8 – Roger Federer vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2011), Juan Martin del Potro (2012) & Novak Djokovic (2015)
7 – John McEnroe vs. Ivan Lendl (1984), Michael Chang vs. Jim Courier (1995), Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic (2007 & 2009), Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray (2012 & 2015)
This entry was posted in
Players,
Stats. Bookmark the
permalink.
Nulle part ailleurs sur le net ! Thanks for this stats.
Une petite faute :
# Top 4 seeded players in semi-finals at the US Open:
1992: 1 – Courier, 2 – “Edberg, 3 – Edberg, 4” – Chang
Super incredible great stats! 🙂
I wait you still gives me the greatest number of encounter between two players over a year while tournaments confused. 🙂
Ah ah, that’s a big challenge !
Pairs of players who have faced each other at all four majors final :
Zero, because Federer missing 2 rendez-vous with Nadal in the US final (2010 and 2011)
🙁
Hi, I discovered a small mistake between Agassi & Courier in ”The most consecutive matches at one major” : The exact years are 1989-1992 (Roland Garros)
You can check out! Lol! 🙂
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=A092&oId=C243
Exactement, merci 🙂
I’ve added today a table on the bottom of the entry. I will be updating this entry after each Grand Slam until one of them finishes his career.
Updated – Nadal and Djokovic – the first pair to play:
– in four consecutive Grand Slam events (all matches were finals)!!!
Murray led once 6-2 in H2H against Federer, now they are tied. Today they played 7th final against each other but for the first time it wasn’t a straight sets match.
Murray joins as a Grand Slam champion, his H2H this year:
– Nadal 0:0, Federer 1:2, Djokovic 3:2
Their H2H’s in 2012:
Djokovic vs.
– Nadal 1:3, Federer 3:2, Murray 4:3
Federer vs.
– Nadal 1:1, Murray 3:2
Murray didn’t play against Nadal in 2012.
Murray has now played 19 times against Federer, 18 against Nadal and 17 against Djokovic 🙂
After Australian Open 2013 every one has played a 5-setter against everyone else. Here are the outcome of 5-setters between them, beside parenthesis their 5th set Open era ranking by %:
4-1 Djokovic (Federer 2-0, Nadal 1-0, Murray 1-1)… 6.
4-3 Nadal (Djokovic 0-1, Federer 3-2, Murray 1-0)… 7.
2-2 Murray (Djokovic 1-1, Federer 1-0, Nadal 0-1)… 13.
2-6 Federer (Djokovic 0-2, Nadal 2-3, Murray 0-1)… 96.
During Roland Garros 2013, Nadal and Djokovic equal record of most matches at one major (5) while Federer equals Sampras’ record of facing the biggest number (6) of particular players at all majors – Sampras played everywhere against: J.Courier, M.Chang, A.Agassi, T.Martin, M.Tillstrom & M.Philippoussis, Federer has played in every major against Kiefer, Del Potro, Nalbandian, Djokovic, Berdych and Tsonga. It’s weird Federer still hasn’t met Nadal at US Open.
Most Open Era finals between 2 players (after Wimbledon ’13):
8) Nadal vs. Federer (6-2)
5) Wilander vs. Lendl (3-2); Sampras vs. Agassi (4-1); Djokovic vs. Nadal (3-2)
4) Borg vs. Connors (2-2); McEnroe vs. Borg (3-1); Murray vs. Djokovic (2-2)
Djokovic has beaten Murray twice in the Australian Open finals, Murray has taken revenge at US Open & Wimbledon.
Federer dropped outside the Top 4 for the first time since June 2003!
Summer/Autumn this year – it’s a time when the magnificent Top 4 looks unstable for the first time in more than five years. Federer was seeded with No. 7 during the US Open 2013 and lost before the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003. It seems his ascendancy in men’s tennis is over.
Nadal & Djokovic met in New York for the record-breaking 37th time, so it’s easy to predict they will crack “40” (probably in the next seven months at worst). Nadal is currently in such a terrific form that he potentially looks like a player being able to overcome Federer’s 17 major titles.
Grand Slam | Olympics | Masters 1000 | Year–End Championships finals of the “Big 4”:
17-7 | 0-1 | 21-13 | 6-2 – Roger Federer (1981)
13-5 | 1-0 | 26-11 | 0-1 – Rafael Nadal (1986)
6-6 | 0-0 | 14-10 | 2-0 – Novak Djokovic (1987)
2-5 | 1-0 | 9-3 | 0-0 – Andy Murray (1987)
4 days after winning Grand Slam tournament on hardcourts, Nadal destroyed Sergiy Stakhovsky today on clay in a Davis Cup rubber, winning opening two sets ‘6-0’ for the first time in career. Comparable wins of the Big 4:
Djokovic d. Ginepri 6-0 6-0 6-3 (Roland Garros ’05)
Federer d. Alan Mackin 6-0 6-0 6-2 (Davis Cup ’05)
Murray d. Laurent Bram 6-0 6-0 6-0 (Davis Cup ’11)
Nadal d. Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-0 6-0 6-4 (Davis Cup ’13)